On the frame structure design for single carrier waveform

ABSTRACT

An approach is described for a method for a fifth generation (5G) wireless communication or a new radio (NR) system that includes the following steps. The method includes generating data samples associated with a sampling rate. The method further includes generating a waveform by populating a first slot and a second slot in a subframe of the waveform using the data samples, wherein slot durations of the first slot and the second slot in the subframe of the waveform equal respective durations of a first slot and a second slot in a subframe of a reference waveform to thereby align the first slot and the second slot in the subframe of the waveform with the respective first slot and second slot in the subframe of the reference waveform. The method further includes transmitting the waveform using front end circuitry, wherein the waveform is a single carrier waveform, and wherein the reference waveform is an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) waveform.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No.62/800,350, filed on Feb. 1, 2019, which is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety.

FIELD

Various embodiments generally may relate to the field of wirelesscommunications.

SUMMARY

An embodiment is a method for a fifth generation (5G) wirelesscommunication or a new radio (NR) system that includes the followingsteps. The method includes generating data samples associated with asampling rate. The method further includes generating a waveform bypopulating a first slot and a second slot in a subframe of the waveformusing the data samples, wherein slot durations of the first slot and thesecond slot in the subframe of the waveform equal respective durationsof a first slot and a second slot in a subframe of a reference waveformto thereby align the first slot and the second slot in the subframe ofthe waveform with the respective first slot and second slot in thesubframe of the reference waveform. The method further includestransmitting the waveform using front end circuitry, wherein thewaveform is a single carrier waveform, and wherein the referencewaveform is an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM)waveform.

Another embodiment is described that is a user equipment (UE) for afifth generation (5G) wireless communication or a new radio (NR) system,where the UE includes radio front end circuitry and processor circuitry.The processor circuitry is configured to generate data samplesassociated with a sampling rate. The processor circuitry is furtherconfigured to generating a waveform by populating a first slot and asecond slot in a subframe of the waveform using the data samples,wherein slot durations of the first slot and the second slot in thesubframe of the waveform equal respective durations of a first slot anda second slot in a subframe of a reference waveform to thereby align thefirst slot and the second slot in the subframe of the waveform with therespective first slot and second slot in the subframe of the referencewaveform. The processor circuitry is further configured to transmittingthe waveform using the radio front end circuitry, wherein the waveformis a single carrier waveform, and wherein the reference waveform is anorthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) waveform.

Another embodiment is described that is computer-readable media (CRM)comprising computer instructions, where upon execution of theinstructions by one or more processors of an electronic device, causesthe electronic device to perform various steps. These steps includegenerating data samples associated with a sampling rate. The stepsfurther include generating a waveform by populating a first slot and asecond slot in a subframe of the waveform using the data samples,wherein slot durations of the first slot and the second slot in thesubframe of the waveform equal respective to durations of a first slotand a second slot in a subframe of a reference waveform to thereby alignthe first slot and the second slot in the subframe of the waveform withthe respective first slot and second slot in the subframe of thereference waveform. The steps further include transmitting the waveformusing front end circuitry, wherein the waveform is a single carrierwaveform, and wherein the reference waveform is an orthogonal frequencydivision multiplexing (OFDM) waveform.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 illustrates transmission schemes for single carrier waveforms inaccordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 2 illustrates a frame structure for SC-UW-FDE waveform of option 1within 0.5 ms, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 3 illustrates a frame structure for SC-UW-FDE waveform of option 2within 0.5 ms, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 4 illustrates a frame structure for SC-UW-FDE waveform of option 3within 0.5 ms, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 5 illustrates a frame structure for SC-UW-FDE waveform of option 4within 0.5 ms, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 6 illustrates a frame structure for SC-UW-FDE waveform of option 5within 0.5 ms, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 7 illustrates a frame structure for SC-UW-FDE waveform of option 6within 0.5 ms, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 8 illustrates a frame structure for SC-UW-FDE waveform of option 7within 0.5 ms, in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 9 depicts an architecture of a system of a network in accordancewith some embodiments.

FIG. 10 depicts an architecture of a system including a first corenetwork in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 11 depicts an architecture of a system including a second corenetwork in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 12 depicts an example of infrastructure equipment in accordancewith various embodiments.

FIG. 13 depicts example components of a computer platform in accordancewith various embodiments

FIG. 14 depicts example components of baseband circuitry and radiofrequency circuitry in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 15 is an illustration of various protocol functions that may beused for various protocol stacks in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 16 illustrates components of a core network in accordance withvarious embodiments.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to someexample embodiments, of a system to support network functionsvirtualization (NFV).

FIG. 18 depicts a block diagram illustrating components, according tosome example embodiments, able to read instructions from amachine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitorymachine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of themethodologies discussed herein.

FIG. 19 depicts an example procedure for practicing the variousembodiments discussed herein, for example, for generating andtransmitting a waveform.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings.The same reference numbers may be used in different drawings to identifythe same or similar elements. In the following description, for purposesof explanation and not limitation, specific details are set forth suchas particular structures, architectures, interfaces, techniques, etc. inorder to provide a thorough understanding of the various aspects ofvarious embodiments. However, it will be apparent to those skilled inthe art having the benefit of the present disclosure that the variousaspects of the various embodiments may be practiced in other examplesthat depart from these specific details. In certain instances,descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted soas not to obscure the description of the various embodiments withunnecessary detail. For the purposes of the present document, the phrase“A or B” means (A), (B), or (A and B).

Mobile communication has evolved significantly from early voice systemsto today's highly sophisticated integrated communication platform. Thenext generation wireless communication system, 5G, or new radio (NR)will provide access to information and sharing of data anywhere, anytimeby various users and applications. NR is expected to be a unifiednetwork/system that target to meet vastly different and sometimeconflicting performance dimensions and services. Such diversemulti-dimensional requirements are driven by different services andapplications. In general, NR will evolve based on 3GPP LTE-Advanced withadditional potential new Radio Access Technologies (RATs) to enrichpeople lives with better, simple and seamless wireless connectivitysolutions. NR will enable everything connected by wireless and deliverfast, rich contents and services.

In NR Release 15, system design is targeted for carrier frequencies upto 52.6 GHz with a waveform choice of cyclic prefix-orthogonalfrequency-division multiplexing (CP-OFDM) for DL and UL, andadditionally. Discrete Fourier Transform-spread-OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) forUL. However, for carrier frequency above 52.6 GHz, it is envisioned thatsingle carrier based waveform is needed in order to handle issuesincluding low power amplifier (PA) efficiency and large phase noise.

For single carrier based waveform, DFT-s-OFDM and single carrier withfrequency domain equalizer (SC-FDE) can be considered for both DL andUL. For OFDM based transmission scheme including DFT-s-OFDM, a cyclicprefix (CP) is inserted at the beginning of each block, where the lastdata symbols in a block is repeated as the CP. Typically, the length ofCP exceeds the maximum expected delay spread in order to overcome theinter-symbol interference (ISI).

For SC-FDE transmission scheme, a known sequence (guard interval (GI),unique word (UW), etc.) or data (considered as CP) can be inserted atboth the beginning and/or end of one block. Further, a linear equalizerin the frequency domain can be employed to reduce the receivercomplexity. Compared to OFDM, SC-FDE transmission scheme can reduce Peakto Average Power Ratio (PAPR) and thus allow the use of less costlypower amplifier.

FIG. 1 illustrates the transmission scheme of two potential candidatesof single carrier based waveform, respectively. In particular, singlecarrier-cyclic prefix-frequency domain equalizer (SC-CP-FDE) comprisesof CP and data, where CP is copied from the last part of data portion.For single carrier-unique word-frequency domain equalizer (SC-UW-FDE),UW is inserted at the beginning and end of data portion within one datablock. Note that it may be possible that UW for two blocks are notshared, i.e., independent UWs are generated for each data block.

As defined in NR Rel-15, scalable numerology is supported for thetransmission of data and control channel. More specially, subcarrierspacings with 2^(n)·15 kHz are defined in the specification, where n=0,1, 2, 3, 4. In addition, subframe duration is 1 ms, which is used as atiming reference to align the slots with different numerologies. Oneslot has 14 OFDM symbols for numerology with normal cyclic prefix.Further, OFDM symbol boundary alignment is defined for differentsubcarrier spacings with normal cyclic prefix. Note that a longer CP isused for the first symbol within 0.5 ms boundary.

For system operating above 52.6 GHz, when single carrier waveform,especially SC-FDE based waveform is supported, given that the samplingrate may be different from that for CP-OFDM or DFT-s-OFDM waveform,frame structure may need to be defined.

This disclosure describes frame structure design for single carrierwaveform for system operating above 52.6 GHz carrier frequency.

Frame Structure Design for Single Carrier Waveform

As mentioned above, in NR Rel-15, scalable numerology is supported forthe transmission of data and control channel. More specially, subcarrierspacings with 2^(n)·15 kHz are defined in the specification, where n=0,1, 2, 3, 4. In addition, subframe duration is 1 ms, which is used as atiming reference to align the slots with different numerologies. Oneslot has 14 OFDM symbols for numerology with normal cyclic prefix.Further, OFDM symbol boundary alignment is defined for differentsubcarrier spacings with normal cyclic prefix. Note that a longer CP isused for the first symbol within 0.5 ms boundary.

For system operating above 52.6 GHz, when CP-OFDM and DFT-s-OFDMwaveform are used, subcarrier spacing can be specified as Δ_(f)=2^(n)·15kHz, where n can be 5, 6, 7 or other integer values, i.e., subcarrierspacing can be 480 KHz, 960 KHz, 1920 KHz, etc. To reduce implementationcost, e.g., using a shared crystal oscillator for both CP-OFDM andsingle carrier waveforms, sampling time for single carrier waveform,including single carrier-cyclic prefix-frequency domain equalizer(SC-CP-FDE) and single carrier-unique word-frequency domain equalizer(SC-UW-FDE) waveforms, can be defined as

$T_{c,2} = {\frac{N_{1}}{N_{2}} \cdot T_{c,1}}$

Where T_(c,1) is the sampling time for CP-OFDM based waveform, T_(c,2)is the sampling time for single carrier waveform; N₁ and N₂ are positiveintegers.

In one example, assuming the sampling time of CP-OFDM waveform as

$T_{c,1} = \frac{1}{\Delta_{f,1} \cdot N_{f,1}}$

Where Δ_(f,1)=960·10³ Hz and N_(f,1)=1024. To meet similar spectrumutilization as CP-OFDM waveform, the sampling time of single carrierwaveform can be

$T_{c,2} = {{\frac{4}{3} \cdot T_{c,1}} = {\frac{1}{737.28 \cdot 10^{6}}\left( \sec \right)}}$

In other words, the sampling rate of single carrier waveform withsimilar spectrum utilization to sampling rate 983.04 MHz of CP-OFDM willbe 737.28 MHz.

Typically, frequency domain equalizer is employed for single carrierwaveform to reduce the receiver complexity. In this case, efficient DFTsize for DFT operation to convert the time domain signal to frequencydomain signal can be defined as

2^(i)·3^(j)·5^(k)

Where i, j, k are non-negative integers.

Additionally, a block of samples for single carrier waveform is definedwhere (positive) integer number of blocks composes a reference unit timeduration. The reference unit time duration can be equal to a slotduration of OFDM system with subcarrier spacing of Δ_(f)=2^(n)·15 kHzand with cyclic prefix (CP) length that corresponds to 7.03125% of theDFT duration of the OFDM symbol, or integer multiple of slot duration ofOFDM system, or 0.5 ms, or 1 ms.

Alignment of integer number of blocks within a reference unit timeduration allows interchangeability between OFDM waveform and singlecarrier waveform in units of reference unit time duration and providesefficient method of multiplexing OFDM waveform and single carrierwaveform efficiently.

Embodiments of frame structure design for single carrier waveform thatfactors into account, integer fraction sampling rate between OFDM andsingle carrier waveform, efficient DFT size, and alignment of integernumber of block of single carrier waveform samples within a referenceunit time duration, for system operating above 52.6 GHz are provided asfollows:

In one embodiment, subframe boundary with duration of 1 ms is alignedfor single carrier waveform with different sampling time (or chip rate).Further, within one subframe, slot duration is equally divided by aninteger, K, which also depends on the sampling time. For instance,K=2^(M), where M is an integer.

In one example, M=6 or K=64. This indicates that 64 slots with slotduration of 15.625 us can be defined within one subframe.

Further, in another example, for SC-UW-FDE waveform, the number of datablocks within one slot can be 12. DFT size can be 960. Assuming 737.28MHz chip rate, the number of samples for UW is 54. Note that in thisoption, UWs are shared between two data blocks.

FIG. 2 illustrates one example of frame structure for SC-UW-FDE waveformwithin 0.5 ms. In the example, 32 slots are equally spread within 0.5 mswherein one slot spans 15.625 us. Assuming 737.28 MHz sampling rate, thenumber of samples for UW and data portion within one block is 54 and906, respectively. Note that the number of samples for UW may bepredefined in the specification, or configured by higher layers ordynamically indicated by MAC-CE or DCI or a combination thereof. In thiscase, the DFT size is 960.

In another option, for SC-UW-FDE waveform when the last blocktransmission of a slot is required to finish at the slot boundary, anextra GI/UW may be appended to the end of the last block. For example,when the sampling rate of SC-UW-FDE waveform is 720.896 MHz which is11/15 of CP-OFDM sampling rate 983.04 MHz, the block size can be 800 andthe extra GI/UW size is 64. The number of blocks in a slot is 14. FIG. 3shows the example within 0.5 ms.

In another option, for SC-UW-FDE waveform, in case when UW is not sharedbetween two blocks, the number of blocks can be 12, and the number ofsamples for UW and data in one block can be 60 and 840, respectively. Inthis case, the DFT size can be 900. FIG. 4 illustrates another exampleof frame structure for SC-UW-FDE waveform within 0.5 ms.

In another embodiment, slot boundary for single carrier waveform can bealigned with that for CP-OFDM and DFT-s-OFDM waveform.

In one example, assuming sampling time of CP-OFDM waveform as

$T_{c,1} = {\frac{1}{938.04}\left( {\mu\; s} \right)}$

The number of samples within first slot of 0.5 ms and remaining slotscan be 15856 and 15344, which correspond to 16.13 us and 15.61 us,respectively. This is due to the extra ˜0.5 us in the first slot of 0.5ms. In this case, the slot boundary of SC-UW-FDE and SC-CP-FDE is saidto align with the boundary of CP-OFDM and DFT-s-OFDM if the slotduration of first slot and remaining slots for single carrier waveformare 16.13 us and 15.61 us, respectively. For example, if the samplingrate of single carrier waveforms is 675.84 MHz which is 11/16 of 983.04MHz for CP-OFDM waveform, and there are 7 blocks in a slot, then thefirst slot has 10901 samples and the remaining slots have 10549 samples.For SC-UW-FDE waveform shown in FIG. 5, the block size can be 1500 andan extra-GI/UW at the slot end has 49 samples; For SC-CP-OFDM waveformshown in FIG. 6, the CP length may be 49 samples and the FFT size is1458 which is 2*3{circumflex over ( )}6.

In another embodiment of the invention, symbol boundary for singlecarrier waveform can be aligned with that for CP-OFDM and DFT-s-OFDMwaveform, which can provide coexistence between CP-OFDM waveform andsingle carrier waveform. Note that due to symbol boundary alignment,slot boundary alignment can be automatically achieved between singlecarrier and CP-OFDM waveform.

In one example, for SC-CP-FDE waveform, assuming 737.28 MHz chip rate,the number of data blocks is 14, the DFT size can be 768. CP length anddata length can be 54 and 768 within one block, respectively. FIG. 7illustrates one example of frame structure for SC-CP-FDE waveform within0.5 ms. In this example, the slot duration of first slot and remainingslots for single carrier waveform can be 16.13 us and 15.61 us,respectively.

In another example, for SC-UW-FDE waveform, in case when UW is notshared between two blocks, the number of blocks can be 14, and thenumber of samples for UW and data in one block can be 54 and 714,respectively. In this case, the DFT size can be 768. FIG. 8 illustratesanother example of frame structure for SC-UW-FDE waveform within 0.5 ms.

FIG. 19 illustrates a flowchart diagram of a method embodiment 1900 fora fifth generation (5G) wireless communication or a new radio (NR)system. In step 1910, the method includes generating data samplesassociated with a sampling rate. In step 1920, the method includesgenerating a waveform by populating a first slot and a second slot in asubframe of the waveform using the data samples, wherein slot durationsof the first slot and the second slot in the subframe of the waveformequal respective durations of a first slot and a second slot in asubframe of a reference waveform to thereby align the first slot and thesecond slot in the subframe of the waveform with the respective firstslot and second slot in the subframe of the reference waveform. In step1930, the method includes transmitting the waveform using front endcircuitry, wherein the waveform is a single carrier waveform, andwherein the reference waveform is an orthogonal frequency divisionmultiplexing (OFDM) waveform.

Systems and Implementations

FIG. 9 illustrates an example architecture of a system 900 of a network,in accordance with various embodiments. The following description isprovided for an example system 900 that operates in conjunction with theLTE system standards and 5G or NR system standards as provided by 3GPPtechnical specifications. However, the example embodiments are notlimited in this regard and the described embodiments may apply to othernetworks that benefit from the principles described herein, such asfuture 3GPP systems (e.g., Sixth Generation (6G)) systems, IEEE 802.16protocols (e.g., WMAN, WiMAX, etc.), or the like.

As shown by FIG. 9, the system 900 includes UE 901 a and UE 901 b(collectively referred to as “UEs 901” or “UE 901”). In this example,UEs 901 are illustrated as smartphones (e.g., handheld touchscreenmobile computing devices connectable to one or more cellular networks),but may also comprise any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such asconsumer electronics devices, cellular phones, smartphones, featurephones, tablet computers, wearable computer devices, personal digitalassistants (PDAs), pagers, wireless handsets, desktop computers, laptopcomputers, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), in-car entertainment (ICE)devices, an Instrument Cluster (IC), head-up display (HUD) devices,onboard diagnostic (OBD) devices, dashtop mobile equipment (DME), mobiledata terminals (MDTs), Electronic Engine Management System (EEMS),electronic/engine control units (ECUs), electronic/engine controlmodules (ECMs), embedded systems, microcontrollers, control modules,engine management systems (EMS), networked or “smart” appliances, MTCdevices, M2M, IoT devices, and/or the like.

In some embodiments, any of the UEs 901 may be IoT UEs, which maycomprise a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applicationsutilizing short-lived UE connections. An IoT UE can utilize technologiessuch as M2M or MTC for exchanging data with an MTC server or device viaa PLMN, ProSe or D2D communication, sensor networks, or IoT networks.The M2M or MTC exchange of data may be a machine-initiated exchange ofdata. An IoT network describes interconnecting IoT UEs, which mayinclude uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within theInternet infrastructure), with short-lived connections. The IoT UEs mayexecute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, statusupdates, etc.) to facilitate the connections of the IoT network.

The UEs 901 may be configured to connect, for example, communicativelycouple, with an or RAN 910. In embodiments, the RAN 910 may be an NG RANor a 5G RAN, an E-UTRAN, or a legacy RAN, such as a UTRAN or GERAN. Asused herein, the term “NG RAN” or the like may refer to a RAN 910 thatoperates in an NR or 5G system 900, and the term “E-UTRAN” or the likemay refer to a RAN 910 that operates in an LTE or 4G system 900. The UEs901 utilize connections (or channels) 903 and 904, respectively, each ofwhich comprises a physical communications interface or layer (discussedin further detail below).

In this example, the connections 903 and 904 are illustrated as an airinterface to enable communicative coupling, and can be consistent withcellular communications protocols, such as a GSM protocol, a CDMAnetwork protocol, a PTT protocol, a POC protocol, a UMTS protocol, a3GPP LTE protocol, a 5G protocol, a NR protocol, and/or any of the othercommunications protocols discussed herein. In embodiments, the UEs 901may directly exchange communication data via a ProSe interface 905. TheProSe interface 905 may alternatively be referred to as a SL interface905 and may comprise one or more logical channels, including but notlimited to a PSCCH, a PSSCH, a PSDCH, and a PSBCH.

The UE 901 b is shown to be configured to access an AP 906 (alsoreferred to as “WLAN node 906,” “WLAN 906,” “WLAN Termination 906,” “WT906” or the like) via connection 907. The connection 907 can comprise alocal wireless connection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE802.11 protocol, wherein the AP 906 would comprise a wireless fidelity(Wi-Fi®) router. In this example, the AP 906 is shown to be connected tothe Internet without connecting to the core network of the wirelesssystem (described in further detail below). In various embodiments, theUE 901 b, RAN 910, and AP 906 may be configured to utilize LWA operationand/or LWIP operation. The LWA operation may involve the UE 901 b inRRC_CONNECTED being configured by a RAN node 911 a-b to utilize radioresources of LTE and WLAN. LWIP operation may involve the UE 901 b usingWLAN radio resources (e.g., connection 907) via IPsec protocol tunnelingto authenticate and encrypt packets (e.g., IP packets) sent over theconnection 907. IPsec tunneling may include encapsulating the entiretyof original IP packets and adding a new packet header, therebyprotecting the original header of the IP packets.

The RAN 910 can include one or more AN nodes or RAN nodes 911 a and 911b (collectively referred to as “RAN nodes 911” or “RAN node 911”) thatenable the connections 903 and 904. As used herein, the terms “accessnode,” “access point,” or the like may describe equipment that providesthe radio baseband functions for data and/or voice connectivity betweena network and one or more users. These access nodes can be referred toas BS, gNBs, RAN nodes, eNBs, NodeBs, RSUs, TRxPs or TRPs, and so forth,and can comprise ground stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) orsatellite stations providing coverage within a geographic area (e.g., acell). As used herein, the term “NG RAN node” or the like may refer to aRAN node 911 that operates in an NR or 5G system 900 (for example, agNB), and the term “E-UTRAN node” or the like may refer to a RAN node911 that operates in an LTE or 4G system 900 (e.g., an eNB). Accordingto various embodiments, the RAN nodes 911 may be implemented as one ormore of a dedicated physical device such as a macrocell base station,and/or a low power (LP) base station for providing femtocells, picocellsor other like cells having smaller coverage areas, smaller usercapacity, or higher bandwidth compared to macrocells.

In some embodiments, all or parts of the RAN nodes 911 may beimplemented as one or more software entities running on server computersas part of a virtual network, which may be referred to as a CRAN and/ora virtual baseband unit pool (vBBUP). In these embodiments, the CRAN orvBBUP may implement a RAN function split, such as a PDCP split whereinRRC and PDCP layers are operated by the CRAN/vBBUP and other L2 protocolentities are operated by individual RAN nodes 911; a MAC/PHY splitwherein RRC, PDCP, RLC, and MAC layers are operated by the CRAN/vBBUPand the PHY layer is operated by individual RAN nodes 911; or a “lowerPHY” split wherein RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC layers and upper portions of thePHY layer are operated by the CRAN/vBBUP and lower portions of the PHYlayer are operated by individual RAN nodes 911. This virtualizedframework allows the freed-up processor cores of the RAN nodes 911 toperform other virtualized applications. In some implementations, anindividual RAN node 911 may represent individual gNB-DUs that areconnected to a gNB-CU via individual F1 interfaces (not shown by FIG.9). In these implementations, the gNB-DUs may include one or more remoteradio heads or RFEMs (see, e.g., FIG. 12), and the gNB-CU may beoperated by a server that is located in the RAN 910 (not shown) or by aserver pool in a similar manner as the CRAN/vBBUP. Additionally oralternatively, one or more of the RAN nodes 911 may be next generationeNBs (ng-eNBs), which are RAN nodes that provide E-UTRA user plane andcontrol plane protocol terminations toward the UEs 901, and areconnected to a 5GC (e.g., CN 1120 of FIG. 11) via an NG interface(discussed infra).

In V2X scenarios one or more of the RAN nodes 911 may be or act as RSUs.The term “Road Side Unit” or “RSU” may refer to any transportationinfrastructure entity used for V2X communications. An RSU may beimplemented in or by a suitable RAN node or a stationary (or relativelystationary) UE, where an RSU implemented in or by a UE may be referredto as a “UE-type RSU,” an RSU implemented in or by an eNB may bereferred to as an “eNB-type RSU,” an RSU implemented in or by a gNB maybe referred to as a “gNB-type RSU,” and the like. In one example, an RSUis a computing device coupled with radio frequency circuitry located ona roadside that provides connectivity support to passing vehicle UEs 901(vUEs 901). The RSU may also include internal data storage circuitry tostore intersection map geometry, traffic statistics, media, as well asapplications/software to sense and control ongoing vehicular andpedestrian traffic. The RSU may operate on the 5.9 GHz Direct ShortRange Communications (DSRC) band to provide very low latencycommunications required for high speed events, such as crash avoidance,traffic warnings, and the like. Additionally or alternatively, the RSUmay operate on the cellular V2X band to provide the aforementioned lowlatency communications, as well as other cellular communicationsservices. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU may operate as a Wi-Fihotspot (2.4 GHz band) and/or provide connectivity to one or morecellular networks to provide uplink and downlink communications. Thecomputing device(s) and some or all of the radiofrequency circuitry ofthe RSU may be packaged in a weatherproof enclosure suitable for outdoorinstallation, and may include a network interface controller to providea wired connection (e.g., Ethernet) to a traffic signal controllerand/or a backhaul network.

Any of the RAN nodes 911 can terminate the air interface protocol andcan be the first point of contact for the UEs 901. In some embodiments,any of the RAN nodes 911 can fulfill various logical functions for theRAN 910 including, but not limited to, radio network controller (RNC)functions such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamicradio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobilitymanagement.

In embodiments, the UEs 901 can be configured to communicate using OFDMcommunication signals with each other or with any of the RAN nodes 911over a multicarrier communication channel in accordance with variouscommunication techniques, such as, but not limited to, an OFDMAcommunication technique (e.g., for downlink communications) or a SC-FDMAcommunication technique (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelinkcommunications), although the scope of the embodiments is not limited inthis respect. The OFDM signals can comprise a plurality of orthogonalsubcarriers.

In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid can be used for downlinktransmissions from any of the RAN nodes 911 to the UEs 901, while uplinktransmissions can utilize similar techniques. The grid can be atime-frequency grid, called a resource grid or time-frequency resourcegrid, which is the physical resource in the downlink in each slot. Sucha time-frequency plane representation is a common practice for OFDMsystems, which makes it intuitive for radio resource allocation. Eachcolumn and each row of the resource grid corresponds to one OFDM symboland one OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of the resource gridin the time domain corresponds to one slot in a radio frame. Thesmallest time-frequency unit in a resource grid is denoted as a resourceelement. Each resource grid comprises a number of resource blocks, whichdescribe the mapping of certain physical channels to resource elements.Each resource block comprises a collection of resource elements; in thefrequency domain, this may represent the smallest quantity of resourcesthat currently can be allocated. There are several different physicaldownlink channels that are conveyed using such resource blocks.

According to various embodiments, the UEs 901, 902 and the RAN nodes911, 912 communicate data (for example, transmit and receive) data overa licensed medium (also referred to as the “licensed spectrum” and/orthe “licensed band”) and an unlicensed shared medium (also referred toas the “unlicensed spectrum” and/or the “unlicensed band”). The licensedspectrum may include channels that operate in the frequency range ofapproximately 400 MHz to approximately 3.8 GHz, whereas the unlicensedspectrum may include the 5 GHz band.

To operate in the unlicensed spectrum, the UEs 901, 902 and the RANnodes 911, 912 may operate using LAA, eLAA, and/or feLAA mechanisms. Inthese implementations, the UEs 901, 902 and the RAN nodes 911, 912 mayperform one or more known medium-sensing operations and/orcarrier-sensing operations in order to determine whether one or morechannels in the unlicensed spectrum is unavailable or otherwise occupiedprior to transmitting in the unlicensed spectrum. The medium/carriersensing operations may be performed according to a listen-before-talk(LBT) protocol.

LBT is a mechanism whereby equipment (for example, UEs 901, 902, RANnodes 911, 912, etc.) senses a medium (for example, a channel or carrierfrequency) and transmits when the medium is sensed to be idle (or when aspecific channel in the medium is sensed to be unoccupied). The mediumsensing operation may include CCA, which utilizes at least ED todetermine the presence or absence of other signals on a channel in orderto determine if a channel is occupied or clear. This LBT mechanismallows cellular/LAA networks to coexist with incumbent systems in theunlicensed spectrum and with other LAA networks. ED may include sensingRF energy across an intended transmission band for a period of time andcomparing the sensed RF energy to a predefined or configured threshold.

Typically, the incumbent systems in the 5 GHz band are WLANs based onIEEE 802.11 technologies. WLAN employs a contention-based channel accessmechanism, called CSMA/CA. Here, when a WLAN node (e.g., a mobilestation (MS) such as UE 901 or 902, AP 906, or the like) intends totransmit, the WLAN node may first perform CCA before transmission.Additionally, a backoff mechanism is used to avoid collisions insituations where more than one WLAN node senses the channel as idle andtransmits at the same time. The backoff mechanism may be a counter thatis drawn randomly within the CWS, which is increased exponentially uponthe occurrence of collision and reset to a minimum value when thetransmission succeeds. The LBT mechanism designed for LAA is somewhatsimilar to the CSMA/CA of WLAN. In some implementations, the LBTprocedure for DL or UL transmission bursts including PDSCH or PUSCHtransmissions, respectively, may have an LAA contention window that isvariable in length between X and Y ECCA slots, where X and Y are minimumand maximum values for the CWSs for LAA. In one example, the minimum CWSfor an LAA transmission may be 9 microseconds (μs); however, the size ofthe CWS and a MCOT (for example, a transmission burst) may be based ongovernmental regulatory requirements.

The LAA mechanisms are built upon CA technologies of LTE-Advancedsystems. In CA, each aggregated carrier is referred to as a CC. A CC mayhave a bandwidth of 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15 or 20 MHz and a maximum of fiveCCs can be aggregated, and therefore, a maximum aggregated bandwidth is100 MHz. In FDD systems, the number of aggregated carriers can bedifferent for DL and UL, where the number of UL CCs is equal to or lowerthan the number of DL component carriers. In some cases, individual CCscan have a different bandwidth than other CCs. In TDD systems, thenumber of CCs as well as the bandwidths of each CC is usually the samefor DL and UL.

CA also comprises individual serving cells to provide individual CCs.The coverage of the serving cells may differ, for example, because CCson different frequency bands will experience different pathloss. Aprimary service cell or PCell may provide a PCC for both UL and DL, andmay handle RRC and NAS related activities. The other serving cells arereferred to as SCells, and each SCell may provide an individual SCC forboth UL and DL. The SCCs may be added and removed as required, whilechanging the PCC may require the UE 901, 902 to undergo a handover. InLAA, eLAA, and feLAA, some or all of the SCells may operate in theunlicensed spectrum (referred to as “LAA SCells”), and the LAA SCellsare assisted by a PCell operating in the licensed spectrum. When a UE isconfigured with more than one LAA SCell, the UE may receive UL grants onthe configured LAA SCells indicating different PUSCH starting positionswithin a same subframe.

The PDSCH carries user data and higher-layer signaling to the UEs 901.The PDCCH carries information about the transport format and resourceallocations related to the PDSCH channel, among other things. It mayalso inform the UEs 901 about the transport format, resource allocation,and HARQ information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically,downlink scheduling (assigning control and shared channel resourceblocks to the UE 901 b within a cell) may be performed at any of the RANnodes 911 based on channel quality information fed back from any of theUEs 901. The downlink resource assignment information may be sent on thePDCCH used for (e.g., assigned to) each of the UEs 901.

The PDCCH uses CCEs to convey the control information. Before beingmapped to resource elements, the PDCCH complex-valued symbols may firstbe organized into quadruplets, which may then be permuted using asub-block interleaver for rate matching. Each PDCCH may be transmittedusing one or more of these CCEs, where each CCE may correspond to ninesets of four physical resource elements known as REGs. Four QuadraturePhase Shift Keying (QPSK) symbols may be mapped to each REG. The PDCCHcan be transmitted using one or more CCEs, depending on the size of theDCI and the channel condition. There can be four or more different PDCCHformats defined in LTE with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregationlevel, L=1, 2, 4, or 8).

Some embodiments may use concepts for resource allocation for controlchannel information that are an extension of the above-describedconcepts. For example, some embodiments may utilize an EPDCCH that usesPDSCH resources for control information transmission. The EPDCCH may betransmitted using one or more ECCEs. Similar to above, each ECCE maycorrespond to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as anEREGs. An ECCE may have other numbers of EREGs in some situations.

The RAN nodes 911 may be configured to communicate with one another viainterface 912. In embodiments where the system 900 is an LTE system(e.g., when CN 920 is an EPC 1020 as in FIG. 10), the interface 912 maybe an X2 interface 912. The X2 interface may be defined between two ormore RAN nodes 911 (e.g., two or more eNBs and the like) that connect toEPC 920, and/or between two eNBs connecting to EPC 920. In someimplementations, the X2 interface may include an X2 user plane interface(X2-U) and an X2 control plane interface (X2-C). The X2-U may provideflow control mechanisms for user data packets transferred over the X2interface, and may be used to communicate information about the deliveryof user data between eNBs. For example, the X2-U may provide specificsequence number information for user data transferred from a MeNB to anSeNB; information about successful in sequence delivery of PDCP PDUs toa UE 901 from an SeNB for user data; information of PDCP PDUs that werenot delivered to a UE 901; information about a current minimum desiredbuffer size at the SeNB for transmitting to the UE user data; and thelike. The X2-C may provide intra-LTE access mobility functionality,including context transfers from source to target eNBs, user planetransport control, etc.; load management functionality; as well asinter-cell interference coordination functionality.

In embodiments where the system 900 is a 5G or NR system (e.g., when CN920 is an 5GC 1120 as in FIG. 11), the interface 912 may be an Xninterface 912. The Xn interface is defined between two or more RAN nodes911 (e.g., two or more gNBs and the like) that connect to 5GC 920,between a RAN node 911 (e.g., a gNB) connecting to 5GC 920 and an eNB,and/or between two eNBs connecting to 5GC 920. In some implementations,the Xn interface may include an Xn user plane (Xn-U) interface and an Xncontrol plane (Xn-C) interface. The Xn-U may provide non-guaranteeddelivery of user plane PDUs and support/provide data forwarding and flowcontrol functionality. The Xn-C may provide management and errorhandling functionality, functionality to manage the Xn-C interface;mobility support for UE 901 in a connected mode (e.g., CM-CONNECTED)including functionality to manage the UE mobility for connected modebetween one or more RAN nodes 911. The mobility support may includecontext transfer from an old (source) serving RAN node 911 to new(target) serving RAN node 911; and control of user plane tunnels betweenold (source) serving RAN node 911 to new (target) serving RAN node 911.A protocol stack of the Xn-U may include a transport network layer builton Internet Protocol (IP) transport layer, and a GTP-U layer on top of aUDP and/or IP layer(s) to carry user plane PDUs. The Xn-C protocol stackmay include an application layer signaling protocol (referred to as XnApplication Protocol (Xn-AP)) and a transport network layer that isbuilt on SCTP. The SCTP may be on top of an IP layer, and may providethe guaranteed delivery of application layer messages. In the transportIP layer, point-to-point transmission is used to deliver the signalingPDUs. In other implementations, the Xn-U protocol stack and/or the Xn-Cprotocol stack may be same or similar to the user plane and/or controlplane protocol stack(s) shown and described herein.

The RAN 910 is shown to be communicatively coupled to a core network—inthis embodiment, core network (CN) 920. The CN 920 may comprise aplurality of network elements 922, which are configured to offer variousdata and telecommunications services to customers/subscribers (e.g.,users of UEs 901) who are connected to the CN 920 via the RAN 910. Thecomponents of the CN 920 may be implemented in one physical node orseparate physical nodes including components to read and executeinstructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g.,a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium). In some embodiments,NFV may be utilized to virtualize any or all of the above-describednetwork node functions via executable instructions stored in one or morecomputer-readable storage mediums (described in further detail below). Alogical instantiation of the CN 920 may be referred to as a networkslice, and a logical instantiation of a portion of the CN 920 may bereferred to as a network sub-slice. NFV architectures andinfrastructures may be used to virtualize one or more network functions,alternatively performed by proprietary hardware, onto physical resourcescomprising a combination of industry-standard server hardware, storagehardware, or switches. In other words, NFV systems can be used toexecute virtual or reconfigurable implementations of one or more EPCcomponents/functions.

Generally, the application server 930 may be an element offeringapplications that use IP bearer resources with the core network (e.g.,UMTS PS domain, LTE PS data services, etc.). The application server 930can also be configured to support one or more communication services(e.g., VoIP sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, socialnetworking services, etc.) for the UEs 901 via the EPC 920.

In embodiments, the CN 920 may be a 5GC (referred to as “5GC 920” or thelike), and the RAN 910 may be connected with the CN 920 via an NGinterface 913. In embodiments, the NG interface 913 may be split intotwo parts, an NG user plane (NG-U) interface 914, which carries trafficdata between the RAN nodes 911 and a UPF, and the S1 control plane(NG-C) interface 915, which is a signaling interface between the RANnodes 911 and AMFs. Embodiments where the CN 920 is a 5GC 920 arediscussed in more detail with regard to FIG. 11.

In embodiments, the CN 920 may be a 5G CN (referred to as “5GC 920” orthe like), while in other embodiments, the CN 920 may be an EPC). WhereCN 920 is an EPC (referred to as “EPC 920” or the like), the RAN 910 maybe connected with the CN 920 via an S1 interface 913. In embodiments,the S1 interface 913 may be split into two parts, an S1 user plane(S1-U) interface 914, which carries traffic data between the RAN nodes911 and the S-GW, and the S1-MME interface 915, which is a signalinginterface between the RAN nodes 911 and MMEs. An example architecturewherein the CN 920 is an EPC 920 is shown by FIG. 10.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example architecture of a system 1000 including afirst CN 1020, in accordance with various embodiments. In this example,system 1000 may implement the LTE standard wherein the CN 1020 is an EPC1020 that corresponds with CN 920 of FIG. 9. Additionally, the UE 1001may be the same or similar as the UEs 901 of FIG. 9, and the E-UTRAN1010 may be a RAN that is the same or similar to the RAN 910 of FIG. 9,and which may include RAN nodes 911 discussed previously. The CN 1020may comprise MMEs 1021, an S-GW 1022, a P-GW 1023, a HSS 1024, and aSGSN 1025.

The MMEs 1021 may be similar in function to the control plane of legacySGSN, and may implement MM functions to keep track of the currentlocation of a UE 1001. The MMEs 1021 may perform various MM proceduresto manage mobility aspects in access such as gateway selection andtracking area list management. MM (also referred to as “EPS MM” or “EMM”in E-UTRAN systems) may refer to all applicable procedures, methods,data storage, etc. that are used to maintain knowledge about a presentlocation of the UE 1001, provide user identity confidentiality, and/orperform other like services to users/subscribers. Each UE 1001 and theMME 1021 may include an MM or EMM sublayer, and an MM context may beestablished in the UE 1001 and the MME 1021 when an attach procedure issuccessfully completed. The MM context may be a data structure ordatabase object that stores MM-related information of the UE 1001. TheMMEs 1021 may be coupled with the HSS 1024 via an S6a reference point,coupled with the SGSN 1025 via an S3 reference point, and coupled withthe S-GW 1022 via an S11 reference point.

The SGSN 1025 may be a node that serves the UE 1001 by tracking thelocation of an individual UE 1001 and performing security functions. Inaddition, the SGSN 1025 may perform Inter-EPC node signaling formobility between 2G/3G and E-UTRAN 3GPP access networks; PDN and S-GWselection as specified by the MMEs 1021; handling of UE 1001 time zonefunctions as specified by the MMEs 1021; and MME selection for handoversto E-UTRAN 3GPP access network. The S3 reference point between the MMEs1021 and the SGSN 1025 may enable user and bearer information exchangefor inter-3GPP access network mobility in idle and/or active states.

The HSS 1024 may comprise a database for network users, includingsubscription-related information to support the network entities'handling of communication sessions. The EPC 1020 may comprise one orseveral HSSs 1024, depending on the number of mobile subscribers, on thecapacity of the equipment, on the organization of the network, etc. Forexample, the HSS 1024 can provide support for routing/roaming,authentication, authorization, naming/addressing resolution, locationdependencies, etc. An S6a reference point between the HSS 1024 and theMMEs 1021 may enable transfer of subscription and authentication datafor authenticating/authorizing user access to the EPC 1020 between HSS1024 and the MMEs 1021.

The S-GW 1022 may terminate the S1 interface 913 (“S1-U” in FIG. 10)toward the RAN 1010, and routes data packets between the RAN 1010 andthe EPC 1020. In addition, the S-GW 1022 may be a local mobility anchorpoint for inter-RAN node handovers and also may provide an anchor forinter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawfulintercept, charging, and some policy enforcement. The S11 referencepoint between the S-GW 1022 and the MMEs 1021 may provide a controlplane between the MMEs 1021 and the S-GW 1022. The S-GW 1022 may becoupled with the P-GW 1023 via an S5 reference point.

The P-GW 1023 may terminate an SGi interface toward a PDN 1030. The P-GW1023 may route data packets between the EPC 1020 and external networkssuch as a network including the application server 930 (alternativelyreferred to as an “AF”) via an IP interface 925 (see e.g., FIG. 9). Inembodiments, the P-GW 1023 may be communicatively coupled to anapplication server (application server 930 of FIG. 9 or PDN 1030 in FIG.10) via an IP communications interface 925 (see, e.g., FIG. 9). The S5reference point between the P-GW 1023 and the S-GW 1022 may provide userplane tunneling and tunnel management between the P-GW 1023 and the S-GW1022. The S5 reference point may also be used for S-GW 1022 relocationdue to UE 1001 mobility and if the S-GW 1022 needs to connect to anon-collocated P-GW 1023 for the required PDN connectivity. The P-GW1023 may further include a node for policy enforcement and charging datacollection (e.g., PCEF (not shown)). Additionally, the SGi referencepoint between the P-GW 1023 and the packet data network (PDN) 1030 maybe an operator external public, a private PDN, or an intra operatorpacket data network, for example, for provision of IMS services. TheP-GW 1023 may be coupled with a PCRF 1026 via a Gx reference point.

PCRF 1026 is the policy and charging control element of the EPC 1020. Ina non-roaming scenario, there may be a single PCRF 1026 in the HomePublic Land Mobile Network (HPLMN) associated with a UE 1001's InternetProtocol Connectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session. In a roamingscenario with local breakout of traffic, there may be two PCRFsassociated with a UE 1001's IP-CAN session, a Home PCRF (H-PCRF) withinan HPLMN and a Visited PCRF (V-PCRF) within a Visited Public Land MobileNetwork (VPLMN). The PCRF 1026 may be communicatively coupled to theapplication server 1030 via the P-GW 1023. The application server 1030may signal the PCRF 1026 to indicate a new service flow and select theappropriate QoS and charging parameters. The PCRF 1026 may provisionthis rule into a PCEF (not shown) with the appropriate TFT and QCI,which commences the QoS and charging as specified by the applicationserver 1030. The Gx reference point between the PCRF 1026 and the P-GW1023 may allow for the transfer of QoS policy and charging rules fromthe PCRF 1026 to PCEF in the P-GW 1023. An Rx reference point may residebetween the PDN 1030 (or “AF 1030”) and the PCRF 1026.

FIG. 11 illustrates an architecture of a system 1100 including a secondCN 1120 in accordance with various embodiments. The system 1100 is shownto include a UE 1101, which may be the same or similar to the UEs 901and UE 1001 discussed previously; a (R)AN 1110, which may be the same orsimilar to the RAN 910 and RAN 1010 discussed previously, and which mayinclude RAN nodes 911 discussed previously; and a DN 1103, which may be,for example, operator services, Internet access or 3rd party services;and a 5GC 1120. The 5GC 1120 may include an AUSF 1122; an AMF 1121; aSMF 1124; a NEF 1123; a PCF 1126; a NRF 1125; a UDM 1127; an AF 1128; aUPF 1102; and a NSSF 1129.

The UPF 1102 may act as an anchor point for intra-RAT and inter-RATmobility, an external PDU session point of interconnect to DN 1103, anda branching point to support multi-homed PDU session. The UPF 1102 mayalso perform packet routing and forwarding, perform packet inspection,enforce the user plane part of policy rules, lawfully intercept packets(UP collection), perform traffic usage reporting, perform QoS handlingfor a user plane (e.g., packet filtering, gating, UL/DL rateenforcement), perform Uplink Traffic verification (e.g., SDF to QoS flowmapping), transport level packet marking in the uplink and downlink, andperform downlink packet buffering and downlink data notificationtriggering. UPF 1102 may include an uplink classifier to support routingtraffic flows to a data network. The DN 1103 may represent variousnetwork operator services, Internet access, or third party services. DN1103 may include, or be similar to, application server 930 discussedpreviously. The UPF 1102 may interact with the SMF 1124 via an N4reference point between the SMF 1124 and the UPF 1102.

The AUSF 1122 may store data for authentication of UE 1101 and handleauthentication-related functionality. The AUSF 1122 may facilitate acommon authentication framework for various access types. The AUSF 1122may communicate with the AMF 1121 via an N12 reference point between theAMF 1121 and the AUSF 1122; and may communicate with the UDM 1127 via anN13 reference point between the UDM 1127 and the AUSF 1122.Additionally, the AUSF 1122 may exhibit an Nausf service-basedinterface.

The AMF 1121 may be responsible for registration management (e.g., forregistering UE 1101, etc.), connection management, reachabilitymanagement, mobility management, and lawful interception of AMF-relatedevents, and access authentication and authorization. The AMF 1121 may bea termination point for the an N11 reference point between the AMF 1121and the SMF 1124. The AMF 1121 may provide transport for SM messagesbetween the UE 1101 and the SMF 1124, and act as a transparent proxy forrouting SM messages. AMF 1121 may also provide transport for SMSmessages between UE 1101 and an SMSF (not shown by FIG. 11). AMF 1121may act as SEAF, which may include interaction with the AUSF 1122 andthe UE 1101, receipt of an intermediate key that was established as aresult of the UE 1101 authentication process. Where USIM basedauthentication is used, the AMF 1121 may retrieve the security materialfrom the AUSF 1122. AMF 1121 may also include a SCM function, whichreceives a key from the SEA that it uses to derive access-networkspecific keys. Furthermore, AMF 1121 may be a termination point of a RANCP interface, which may include or be an N2 reference point between the(R)AN 1110 and the AMF 1121; and the AMF 1121 may be a termination pointof NAS (N1) signalling, and perform NAS ciphering and integrityprotection.

AMF 1121 may also support NAS signalling with a UE 1101 over an N3 IWFinterface. The N3IWF may be used to provide access to untrustedentities. N3IWF may be a termination point for the N2 interface betweenthe (R)AN 1110 and the AMF 1121 for the control plane, and may be atermination point for the N3 reference point between the (R)AN 1110 andthe UPF 1102 for the user plane. As such, the AMF 1121 may handle N2signalling from the SMF 1124 and the AMF 1121 for PDU sessions and QoS,encapsulate/de-encapsulate packets for IPSec and N3 tunnelling, mark N3user-plane packets in the uplink, and enforce QoS corresponding to N3packet marking taking into account QoS requirements associated with suchmarking received over N2. N3IWF may also relay uplink and downlinkcontrol-plane NAS signalling between the UE 1101 and AMF 1121 via an N1reference point between the UE 1101 and the AMF 1121, and relay uplinkand downlink user-plane packets between the UE 1101 and UPF 1102. TheN3IWF also provides mechanisms for IPsec tunnel establishment with theUE 1101. The AMF 1121 may exhibit an Namf service-based interface, andmay be a termination point for an N14 reference point between two AMFs1121 and an N17 reference point between the AMF 1121 and a 5G-EIR (notshown by FIG. 11).

The UE 1101 may need to register with the AMF 1121 in order to receivenetwork services. RM is used to register or deregister the UE 1101 withthe network (e.g., AMF 1121), and establish a UE context in the network(e.g., AMF 1121). The UE 1101 may operate in an RM-REGISTERED state oran RM-DEREGISTERED state. In the RM-DEREGISTERED state, the UE 1101 isnot registered with the network, and the UE context in AMF 1121 holds novalid location or routing information for the UE 1101 so the UE 1101 isnot reachable by the AMF 1121. In the RM-REGISTERED state, the UE 1101is registered with the network, and the UE context in AMF 1121 may holda valid location or routing information for the UE 1101 so the UE 1101is reachable by the AMF 1121. In the RM-REGISTERED state, the UE 1101may perform mobility Registration Update procedures, perform periodicRegistration Update procedures triggered by expiration of the periodicupdate timer (e.g., to notify the network that the UE 1101 is stillactive), and perform a Registration Update procedure to update UEcapability information or to re-negotiate protocol parameters with thenetwork, among others.

The AMF 1121 may store one or more RM contexts for the UE 1101, whereeach RM context is associated with a specific access to the network. TheRM context may be a data structure, database object, etc. that indicatesor stores, inter alia, a registration state per access type and theperiodic update timer. The AMF 1121 may also store a 5GC MM context thatmay be the same or similar to the (E)MM context discussed previously. Invarious embodiments, the AMF 1121 may store a CE mode B Restrictionparameter of the UE 1101 in an associated MM context or RM context. TheAMF 1121 may also derive the value, when needed, from the UE's usagesetting parameter already stored in the UE context (and/or MM/RMcontext).

CM may be used to establish and release a signaling connection betweenthe UE 1101 and the AMF 1121 over the N1 interface. The signalingconnection is used to enable NAS signaling exchange between the UE 1101and the CN 1120, and comprises both the signaling connection between theUE and the AN (e.g., RRC connection or UE-N31WF connection for non-3GPPaccess) and the N2 connection for the UE 1101 between the AN (e.g., RAN1110) and the AMF 1121. The UE 1101 may operate in one of two CM states,CM-IDLE mode or CM-CONNECTED mode. When the UE 1101 is operating in theCM-IDLE state/mode, the UE 1101 may have no NAS signaling connectionestablished with the AMF 1121 over the N1 interface, and there may be(R)AN 1110 signaling connection (e.g., N2 and/or N3 connections) for theUE 1101. When the UE 1101 is operating in the CM-CONNECTED state/mode,the UE 1101 may have an established NAS signaling connection with theAMF 1121 over the N1 interface, and there may be a (R)AN 1110 signalingconnection (e.g., N2 and/or N3 connections) for the UE 1101.Establishment of an N2 connection between the (R)AN 1110 and the AMF1121 may cause the UE 1101 to transition from CM-IDLE mode toCM-CONNECTED mode, and the UE 1101 may transition from the CM-CONNECTEDmode to the CM-IDLE mode when N2 signaling between the (R)AN 1110 andthe AMF 1121 is released.

The SMF 1124 may be responsible for SM (e.g., session establishment,modify and release, including tunnel maintain between UPF and AN node);UE IP address allocation and management (including optionalauthorization); selection and control of UP function; configuringtraffic steering at UPF to route traffic to proper destination;termination of interfaces toward policy control functions; controllingpart of policy enforcement and QoS; lawful intercept (for SM events andinterface to LI system); termination of SM parts of NAS messages;downlink data notification; initiating AN specific SM information, sentvia AMF over N2 to AN; and determining SSC mode of a session. SM mayrefer to management of a PDU session, and a PDU session or “session” mayrefer to a PDU connectivity service that provides or enables theexchange of PDUs between a UE 1101 and a data network (DN) 1103identified by a Data Network Name (DNN). PDU sessions may be establishedupon UE 1101 request, modified upon UE 1101 and 5GC 1120 request, andreleased upon UE 1101 and 5GC 1120 request using NAS SM signalingexchanged over the N1 reference point between the UE 1101 and the SMF1124. Upon request from an application server, the 5GC 1120 may triggera specific application in the UE 1101. In response to receipt of thetrigger message, the UE 1101 may pass the trigger message (or relevantparts/information of the trigger message) to one or more identifiedapplications in the UE 1101. The identified application(s) in the UE1101 may establish a PDU session to a specific DNN. The SMF 1124 maycheck whether the UE 1101 requests are compliant with user subscriptioninformation associated with the UE 1101. In this regard, the SMF 1124may retrieve and/or request to receive update notifications on SMF 1124level subscription data from the UDM 1127.

The SMF 1124 may include the following roaming functionality: handlinglocal enforcement to apply QoS SLAs (VPLMN); charging data collectionand charging interface (VPLMN); lawful intercept (in VPLMN for SM eventsand interface to LI system), and support for interaction with externalDN for transport of signalling for PDU sessionauthorization/authentication by external DN. An N16 reference pointbetween two SMFs 1124 may be included in the system 1100, which may bebetween another SMF 1124 in a visited network and the SMF 1124 in thehome network in roaming scenarios. Additionally, the SMF 1124 mayexhibit the Nsmf service-based interface.

The NEF 1123 may provide means for securely exposing the services andcapabilities provided by 3GPP network functions for third party,internal exposure/re-exposure, Application Functions (e.g., AF 1128),edge computing or fog computing systems, etc. In such embodiments, theNEF 1123 may authenticate, authorize, and/or throttle the AFs. NEF 1123may also translate information exchanged with the AF 1128 andinformation exchanged with internal network functions. For example, theNEF 1123 may translate between an AF-Service-Identifier and an internal5GC information. NEF 1123 may also receive information from othernetwork functions (NFs) based on exposed capabilities of other networkfunctions. This information may be stored at the NEF 1123 as structureddata, or at a data storage NF using standardized interfaces. The storedinformation can then be re-exposed by the NEF 1123 to other NFs and AFs,and/or used for other purposes such as analytics. Additionally, the NEF1123 may exhibit an Nnef service-based interface.

The NRF 1125 may support service discovery functions, receive NFdiscovery requests from NF instances, and provide the information of thediscovered NF instances to the NF instances. NRF 1125 also maintainsinformation of available NF instances and their supported services. Asused herein, the terms “instantiate,” “instantiation,” and the like mayrefer to the creation of an instance, and an “instance” may refer to aconcrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, duringexecution of program code. Additionally, the NRF 1125 may exhibit theNnrf service-based interface.

The PCF 1126 may provide policy rules to control plane function(s) toenforce them, and may also support unified policy framework to governnetwork behaviour. The PCF 1126 may also implement an FE to accesssubscription information relevant for policy decisions in a UDR of theUDM 1127. The PCF 1126 may communicate with the AMF 1121 via an N15reference point between the PCF 1126 and the AMF 1121, which may includea PCF 1126 in a visited network and the AMF 1121 in case of roamingscenarios. The PCF 1126 may communicate with the AF 1128 via an N5reference point between the PCF 1126 and the AF 1128; and with the SMF1124 via an N7 reference point between the PCF 1126 and the SMF 1124.The system 1100 and/or CN 1120 may also include an N24 reference pointbetween the PCF 1126 (in the home network) and a PCF 1126 in a visitednetwork. Additionally, the PCF 1126 may exhibit an Npcf service-basedinterface.

The UDM 1127 may handle subscription-related information to support thenetwork entities' handling of communication sessions, and may storesubscription data of UE 1101. For example, subscription data may becommunicated between the UDM 1127 and the AMF 1121 via an N8 referencepoint between the UDM 1127 and the AMF. The UDM 1127 may include twoparts, an application FE and a UDR (the FE and UDR are not shown by FIG.11). The UDR may store subscription data and policy data for the UDM1127 and the PCF 1126, and/or structured data for exposure andapplication data (including PFDs for application detection, applicationrequest information for multiple UEs 1101) for the NEF 1123. The Nudrservice-based interface may be exhibited by the UDR 221 to allow the UDM1127, PCF 1126, and NEF 1123 to access a particular set of the storeddata, as well as to read, update (e.g., add, modify), delete, andsubscribe to notification of relevant data changes in the UDR. The UDMmay include a UDM-FE, which is in charge of processing credentials,location management, subscription management and so on. Severaldifferent front ends may serve the same user in different transactions.The UDM-FE accesses subscription information stored in the UDR andperforms authentication credential processing, user identificationhandling, access authorization, registration/mobility management, andsubscription management. The UDR may interact with the SMF 1124 via anN10 reference point between the UDM 1127 and the SMF 1124. UDM 1127 mayalso support SMS management, wherein an SMS-FE implements the similarapplication logic as discussed previously. Additionally, the UDM 1127may exhibit the Nudm service-based interface.

The AF 1128 may provide application influence on traffic routing,provide access to the NCE, and interact with the policy framework forpolicy control. The NCE may be a mechanism that allows the 5GC 1120 andAF 1128 to provide information to each other via NEF 1123, which may beused for edge computing implementations. In such implementations, thenetwork operator and third party services may be hosted close to the UE1101 access point of attachment to achieve an efficient service deliverythrough the reduced end-to-end latency and load on the transportnetwork. For edge computing implementations, the 5GC may select a UPF1102 close to the UE 1101 and execute traffic steering from the UPF 1102to DN 1103 via the N6 interface. This may be based on the UEsubscription data, UE location, and information provided by the AF 1128.In this way, the AF 1128 may influence UPF (re)selection and trafficrouting. Based on operator deployment, when AF 1128 is considered to bea trusted entity, the network operator may permit AF 1128 to interactdirectly with relevant NFs. Additionally, the AF 1128 may exhibit an Nafservice-based interface.

The NSSF 1129 may select a set of network slice instances serving the UE1101. The NSSF 1129 may also determine allowed NSSAI and the mapping tothe subscribed S-NSSAIs, if needed. The NSSF 1129 may also determine theAMF set to be used to serve the UE 1101, or a list of candidate AMF(s)1121 based on a suitable configuration and possibly by querying the NRF1125. The selection of a set of network slice instances for the UE 1101may be triggered by the AMF 1121 with which the UE 1101 is registered byinteracting with the NSSF 1129, which may lead to a change of AMF 1121.The NSSF 1129 may interact with the AMF 1121 via an N22 reference pointbetween AMF 1121 and NSSF 1129; and may communicate with another NSSF1129 in a visited network via an N31 reference point (not shown by FIG.11). Additionally, the NSSF 1129 may exhibit an Nnssf service-basedinterface.

As discussed previously, the CN 1120 may include an SMSF, which may beresponsible for SMS subscription checking and verification, and relayingSM messages to/from the UE 1101 to/from other entities, such as anSMS-GMSC/IWMSC/SMS-router. The SMS may also interact with AMF 1121 andUDM 1127 for a notification procedure that the UE 1101 is available forSMS transfer (e.g., set a UE not reachable flag, and notifying UDM 1127when UE 1101 is available for SMS).

The CN 120 may also include other elements that are not shown by FIG.11, such as a Data Storage system/architecture, a 5G-EIR, a SEPP, andthe like. The Data Storage system may include a SDSF, an UDSF, and/orthe like. Any NF may store and retrieve unstructured data into/from theUDSF (e.g., UE contexts), via N18 reference point between any NF and theUDSF (not shown by FIG. 11). Individual NFs may share a UDSF for storingtheir respective unstructured data or individual NFs may each have theirown UDSF located at or near the individual NFs. Additionally, the UDSFmay exhibit an Nudsf service-based interface (not shown by FIG. 11). The5G-EIR may be an NF that checks the status of PEI for determiningwhether particular equipment/entities are blacklisted from the network;and the SEPP may be a non-transparent proxy that performs topologyhiding, message filtering, and policing on inter-PLMN control planeinterfaces.

Additionally, there may be many more reference points and/orservice-based interfaces between the NF services in the NFs; however,these interfaces and reference points have been omitted from FIG. 11 forclarity. In one example, the CN 1120 may include an Nx interface, whichis an inter-CN interface between the MME (e.g., MME 1021) and the AMF1121 in order to enable interworking between CN 1120 and CN 1020. Otherexample interfaces/reference points may include an N5g-EIR service-basedinterface exhibited by a 5G-EIR, an N27 reference point between the NRFin the visited network and the NRF in the home network; and an N31reference point between the NSSF in the visited network and the NSSF inthe home network.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example of infrastructure equipment 1200 inaccordance with various embodiments. The infrastructure equipment 1200(or “system 1200”) may be implemented as a base station, radio head, RANnode such as the RAN nodes 911 and/or AP 906 shown and describedpreviously, application server(s) 930, and/or any other element/devicediscussed herein. In other examples, the system 1200 could beimplemented in or by a UE.

The system 1200 includes application circuitry 1205, baseband circuitry1210, one or more radio front end modules (RFEMs) 1215, memory circuitry1220, power management integrated circuitry (PMIC) 1225, power teecircuitry 1230, network controller circuitry 1235, network interfaceconnector 1240, satellite positioning circuitry 1245, and user interface1250. In some embodiments, the device 1200 may include additionalelements such as, for example, memory/storage, display, camera, sensor,or input/output (I/O) interface. In other embodiments, the componentsdescribed below may be included in more than one device. For example,said circuitries may be separately included in more than one device forCRAN, vBBU, or other like implementations.

Application circuitry 1205 includes circuitry such as, but not limitedto one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and one ormore of low drop-out voltage regulators (LDOs), interrupt controllers,serial interfaces such as SPI, I²C or universal programmable serialinterface module, real time clock (RTC), timer-counters includinginterval and watchdog timers, general purpose input/output (I/O or IO),memory card controllers such as Secure Digital (SD) MultiMediaCard (MMC)or similar, Universal Serial Bus (USB) interfaces, Mobile IndustryProcessor Interface (MIPI) interfaces and Joint Test Access Group (JTAG)test access ports. The processors (or cores) of the applicationcircuitry 1205 may be coupled with or may include memory/storageelements and may be configured to execute instructions stored in thememory/storage to enable various applications or operating systems torun on the system 1200. In some implementations, the memory/storageelements may be on-chip memory circuitry, which may include any suitablevolatile and/or non-volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM,Flash memory, solid-state memory, and/or any other type of memory devicetechnology, such as those discussed herein.

The processor(s) of application circuitry 1205 may include, for example,one or more processor cores (CPUs), one or more application processors,one or more graphics processing units (GPUs), one or more reducedinstruction set computing (RISC) processors, one or more Acom RISCMachine (ARM) processors, one or more complex instruction set computing(CISC) processors, one or more digital signal processors (DSP), one ormore FPGAs, one or more PLDs, one or more ASICs, one or moremicroprocessors or controllers, or any suitable combination thereof. Insome embodiments, the application circuitry 1205 may comprise, or maybe, a special-purpose processor/controller to operate according to thevarious embodiments herein. As examples, the processor(s) of applicationcircuitry 1205 may include one or more Intel Pentium®, Core®, or Xeon)processor(s); Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Ryzen® processor(s),Accelerated Processing Units (APUs), or Epyc® processors; ARM-basedprocessor(s) licensed from ARM Holdings, Ltd. such as the ARM Cortex-Afamily of processors and the ThunderX2®, provided by Cavium™, Inc.; aMIPS-based design from MIPS Technologies, Inc. such as MIPS WarriorP-class processors; and/or the like. In some embodiments, the system1200 may not utilize application circuitry 1205, and instead may includea special-purpose processor/controller to process IP data received froman EPC or 5GC, for example.

In some implementations, the application circuitry 1205 may include oneor more hardware accelerators, which may be microprocessors,programmable processing devices, or the like. The one or more hardwareaccelerators may include, for example, computer vision (CV) and/or deeplearning (DL) accelerators. As examples, the programmable processingdevices may be one or more a field-programmable devices (FPDs) such asfield-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and the like; programmable logicdevices (PLDs) such as complex PLDs (CPLDs), high-capacity PLDs(HCPLDs), and the like; ASICs such as structured ASICs and the like;programmable SoCs (PSoCs); and the like. In such implementations, thecircuitry of application circuitry 1205 may comprise logic blocks orlogic fabric, and other interconnected resources that may be programmedto perform various functions, such as the procedures, methods,functions, etc. of the various embodiments discussed herein. In suchembodiments, the circuitry of application circuitry 1205 may includememory cells (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM),electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flashmemory, static memory (e.g., static random access memory (SRAM),anti-fuses, etc.)) used to store logic blocks, logic fabric, data, etc.in look-up-tables (LUTs) and the like.

The baseband circuitry 1210 may be implemented, for example, as asolder-down substrate including one or more integrated circuits, asingle packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board or amulti-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits. Thevarious hardware electronic elements of baseband circuitry 1210 arediscussed infra with regard to FIG. 14.

User interface circuitry 1250 may include one or more user interfacesdesigned to enable user interaction with the system 1200 or peripheralcomponent interfaces designed to enable peripheral component interactionwith the system 1200. User interfaces may include, but are not limitedto, one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), oneor more indicators (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)), a physicalkeyboard or keypad, a mouse, a touchpad, a touchscreen, speakers orother audio emitting devices, microphones, a printer, a scanner, aheadset, a display screen or display device, etc. Peripheral componentinterfaces may include, but are not limited to, a nonvolatile memoryport, a universal serial bus (USB) port, an audio jack, a power supplyinterface, etc.

The radio front end modules (RFEMs) 1215 may comprise a millimeter wave(mmWave) RFEM and one or more sub-mmWave radio frequency integratedcircuits (RFICs). In some implementations, the one or more sub-mmWaveRFICs may be physically separated from the mmWave RFEM. The RFICs mayinclude connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays (see e.g.,antenna array 1411 of FIG. 14 infra), and the RFEM may be connected tomultiple antennas. In alternative implementations, both mmWave andsub-mmWave radio functions may be implemented in the same physical RFEM1215, which incorporates both mmWave antennas and sub-mmWave.

The memory circuitry 1220 may include one or more of volatile memoryincluding dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and/or synchronous dynamicrandom access memory (SDRAM), and nonvolatile memory (NVM) includinghigh-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as Flashmemory), phase change random access memory (PRAM), magnetoresistiverandom access memory (MRAM), etc., and may incorporate thethree-dimensional (3D) cross-point (XPOINT) memories from Intel® andMicron®. Memory circuitry 1220 may be implemented as one or more ofsolder down packaged integrated circuits, socketed memory modules andplug-in memory cards.

The PMIC 1225 may include voltage regulators, surge protectors, poweralarm detection circuitry, and one or more backup power sources such asa battery or capacitor. The power alarm detection circuitry may detectone or more of brown out (under-voltage) and surge (over-voltage)conditions. The power tee circuitry 1230 may provide for electricalpower drawn from a network cable to provide both power supply and dataconnectivity to the infrastructure equipment 1200 using a single cable.

The network controller circuitry 1235 may provide connectivity to anetwork using a standard network interface protocol such as Ethernet,Ethernet over GRE Tunnels, Ethernet over Multiprotocol Label Switching(MPLS), or some other suitable protocol. Network connectivity may beprovided to/from the infrastructure equipment 1200 via network interfaceconnector 1240 using a physical connection, which may be electrical(commonly referred to as a “copper interconnect”), optical, or wireless.The network controller circuitry 1235 may include one or more dedicatedprocessors and/or FPGAs to communicate using one or more of theaforementioned protocols. In some implementations, the networkcontroller circuitry 1235 may include multiple controllers to provideconnectivity to other networks using the same or different protocols.

The positioning circuitry 1245 includes circuitry to receive and decodesignals transmitted/broadcasted by a positioning network of a globalnavigation satellite system (GNSS). Examples of navigation satelliteconstellations (or GNSS) include United States' Global PositioningSystem (GPS), Russia's Global Navigation System (GLONASS), the EuropeanUnion's Galileo system, China's BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, aregional navigation system or GNSS augmentation system (e.g., Navigationwith Indian Constellation (NAVIC), Japan's Quasi-Zenith Satellite System(QZSS), France's Doppler Orbitography and Radio-positioning Integratedby Satellite (DORIS), etc.), or the like. The positioning circuitry 1245comprises various hardware elements (e.g., including hardware devicessuch as switches, filters, amplifiers, antenna elements, and the like tofacilitate OTA communications) to communicate with components of apositioning network, such as navigation satellite constellation nodes.In some embodiments, the positioning circuitry 1245 may include aMicro-Technology for Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (Micro-PNT) ICthat uses a master timing clock to perform position tracking/estimationwithout GNSS assistance. The positioning circuitry 1245 may also be partof, or interact with, the baseband circuitry 1210 and/or RFEMs 1215 tocommunicate with the nodes and components of the positioning network.The positioning circuitry 1245 may also provide position data and/ortime data to the application circuitry 1205, which may use the data tosynchronize operations with various infrastructure (e.g., RAN nodes 911,etc.), or the like.

The components shown by FIG. 12 may communicate with one another usinginterface circuitry, which may include any number of bus and/orinterconnect (IX) technologies such as industry standard architecture(ISA), extended ISA (EISA), peripheral component interconnect (PCI),peripheral component interconnect extended (PCIx), PCI express (PCIe),or any number of other technologies. The bus/IX may be a proprietarybus, for example, used in a SoC based system. Other bus/IX systems maybe included, such as an I²C interface, an SPI interface, point to pointinterfaces, and a power bus, among others.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example of a platform 1300 (or “device 1300”) inaccordance with various embodiments. In embodiments, the computerplatform 1300 may be suitable for use as UEs 901, 902, 1001, applicationservers 930, and/or any other element/device discussed herein. Theplatform 1300 may include any combinations of the components shown inthe example. The components of platform 1300 may be implemented asintegrated circuits (ICs), portions thereof, discrete electronicdevices, or other modules, logic, hardware, software, firmware, or acombination thereof adapted in the computer platform 1300, or ascomponents otherwise incorporated within a chassis of a larger system.The block diagram of FIG. 13 is intended to show a high level view ofcomponents of the computer platform 1300. However, some of thecomponents shown may be omitted, additional components may be present,and different arrangement of the components shown may occur in otherimplementations.

Application circuitry 1305 includes circuitry such as, but not limitedto one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and one ormore of LDOs, interrupt controllers, serial interfaces such as SPI, I²Cor universal programmable serial interface module, RTC, timer-countersincluding interval and watchdog timers, general purpose I/O, memory cardcontrollers such as SD MMC or similar, USB interfaces, MIPI interfaces,and JTAG test access ports. The processors (or cores) of the applicationcircuitry 1305 may be coupled with or may include memory/storageelements and may be configured to execute instructions stored in thememory/storage to enable various applications or operating systems torun on the system 1300. In some implementations, the memory/storageelements may be on-chip memory circuitry, which may include any suitablevolatile and/or non-volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM,Flash memory, solid-state memory, and/or any other type of memory devicetechnology, such as those discussed herein.

The processor(s) of application circuitry 1205 may include, for example,one or more processor cores, one or more application processors, one ormore GPUs, one or more RISC processors, one or more ARM processors, oneor more CISC processors, one or more DSP, one or more FPGAs, one or morePLDs, one or more ASICs, one or more microprocessors or controllers, amultithreaded processor, an ultra-low voltage processor, an embeddedprocessor, some other known processing element, or any suitablecombination thereof. In some embodiments, the application circuitry 1205may comprise, or may be, a special-purpose processor/controller tooperate according to the various embodiments herein.

As examples, the processor(s) of application circuitry 1305 may includean Intel® Architecture Core™ based processor, such as a Quark™, anAtom™, an i3, an i5, an i7, or an MCU-class processor, or another suchprocessor available from Intel® Corporation, Santa Clara, Calif. Theprocessors of the application circuitry 1305 may also be one or more ofAdvanced Micro Devices (AMD) Ryzen® processor(s) or AcceleratedProcessing Units (APUs); A5-A9 processor(s) from Apple® Inc.,Snapdragon™ processor(s) from Qualcomm) Technologies, Inc., TexasInstruments, Inc.® Open Multimedia Applications Platform (OMAP)™processor(s); a MIPS-based design from MIPS Technologies, Inc. such asMIPS Warrior M-class, Warrior I-class, and Warrior P-class processors;an ARM-based design licensed from ARM Holdings, Ltd., such as the ARMCortex-A, Cortex-R, and Cortex-M family of processors; or the like. Insome implementations, the application circuitry 1305 may be a part of asystem on a chip (SoC) in which the application circuitry 1305 and othercomponents are formed into a single integrated circuit, or a singlepackage, such as the Edison™ or Galileo™ SoC boards from Intel®Corporation.

Additionally or alternatively, application circuitry 1305 may includecircuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more a field-programmabledevices (FPDs) such as FPGAs and the like; programmable logic devices(PLDs) such as complex PLDs (CPLDs), high-capacity PLDs (HCPLDs), andthe like; ASICs such as structured ASICs and the like; programmable SoCs(PSoCs); and the like. In such embodiments, the circuitry of applicationcircuitry 1305 may comprise logic blocks or logic fabric, and otherinterconnected resources that may be programmed to perform variousfunctions, such as the procedures, methods, functions, etc. of thevarious embodiments discussed herein. In such embodiments, the circuitryof application circuitry 1305 may include memory cells (e.g., erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, static memory(e.g., static random access memory (SRAM), anti-fuses, etc.)) used tostore logic blocks, logic fabric, data, etc. in look-up tables (LUTs)and the like.

The baseband circuitry 1310 may be implemented, for example, as asolder-down substrate including one or more integrated circuits, asingle packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board or amulti-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits. Thevarious hardware electronic elements of baseband circuitry 1310 arediscussed infra with regard to FIG. 14.

The RFEMs 1315 may comprise a millimeter wave (mmWave) RFEM and one ormore sub-mmWave radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). In someimplementations, the one or more sub-mmWave RFICs may be physicallyseparated from the mmWave RFEM. The RFICs may include connections to oneor more antennas or antenna arrays (see e.g., antenna array 1411 of FIG.14 infra), and the RFEM may be connected to multiple antennas. Inalternative implementations, both mmWave and sub-mmWave radio functionsmay be implemented in the same physical RFEM 1315, which incorporatesboth mmWave antennas and sub-mmWave.

The memory circuitry 1320 may include any number and type of memorydevices used to provide for a given amount of system memory. Asexamples, the memory circuitry 1320 may include one or more of volatilememory including random access memory (RAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM) and/orsynchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM), and nonvolatile memory (NVM) includinghigh-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as Flashmemory), phase change random access memory (PRAM), magnetoresistiverandom access memory (MRAM), etc. The memory circuitry 1320 may bedeveloped in accordance with a Joint Electron Devices EngineeringCouncil (JEDEC) low power double data rate (LPDDR)-based design, such asLPDDR2, LPDDR3, LPDDR4, or the like. Memory circuitry 1320 may beimplemented as one or more of solder down packaged integrated circuits,single die package (SDP), dual die package (DDP) or quad die package(Q17P), socketed memory modules, dual inline memory modules (DIMMs)including microDIMMs or MiniDIMMs, and/or soldered onto a motherboardvia a ball grid array (BGA). In low power implementations, the memorycircuitry 1320 may be on-die memory or registers associated with theapplication circuitry 1305. To provide for persistent storage ofinformation such as data, applications, operating systems and so forth,memory circuitry 1320 may include one or more mass storage devices,which may include, inter alia, a solid state disk drive (SSDD), harddisk drive (HDD), a micro HDD, resistance change memories, phase changememories, holographic memories, or chemical memories, among others. Forexample, the computer platform 1300 may incorporate thethree-dimensional (3D) cross-point (XPOINT) memories from Intel® andMicron®.

Removable memory circuitry 1323 may include devices, circuitry,enclosures/housings, ports or receptacles, etc. used to couple portabledata storage devices with the platform 1300. These portable data storagedevices may be used for mass storage purposes, and may include, forexample, flash memory cards (e.g., Secure Digital (SD) cards, microSDcards, xD picture cards, and the like), and USB flash drives, opticaldiscs, external HDDs, and the like.

The platform 1300 may also include interface circuitry (not shown) thatis used to connect external devices with the platform 1300. The externaldevices connected to the platform 1300 via the interface circuitryinclude sensor circuitry 1321 and electro-mechanical components (EMCs)1322, as well as removable memory devices coupled to removable memorycircuitry 1323.

The sensor circuitry 1321 include devices, modules, or subsystems whosepurpose is to detect events or changes in its environment and send theinformation (sensor data) about the detected events to some other adevice, module, subsystem, etc. Examples of such sensors include, interalia, inertia measurement units (IMUs) comprising accelerometers,gyroscopes, and/or magnetometers; microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)or nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) comprising 3-axisaccelerometers, 3-axis gyroscopes, and/or magnetometers; level sensors;flow sensors; temperature sensors (e.g., thermistors); pressure sensors;barometric pressure sensors; gravimeters; altimeters; image capturedevices (e.g., cameras or lensless apertures); light detection andranging (LiDAR) sensors; proximity sensors (e.g., infrared radiationdetector and the like), depth sensors, ambient light sensors, ultrasonictransceivers; microphones or other like audio capture devices; etc.

EMCs 1322 include devices, modules, or subsystems whose purpose is toenable platform 1300 to change its state, position, and/or orientation,or move or control a mechanism or (sub)system. Additionally, EMCs 1322may be configured to generate and send messages/signalling to othercomponents of the platform 1300 to indicate a current state of the EMCs1322. Examples of the EMCs 1322 include one or more power switches,relays including electromechanical relays (EMRs) and/or solid staterelays (SSRs), actuators (e.g., valve actuators, etc.), an audible soundgenerator, a visual warning device, motors (e.g., DC motors, steppermotors, etc.), wheels, thrusters, propellers, claws, clamps, hooks,and/or other like electro-mechanical components. In embodiments,platform 1300 is configured to operate one or more EMCs 1322 based onone or more captured events and/or instructions or control signalsreceived from a service provider and/or various clients.

In some implementations, the interface circuitry may connect theplatform 1300 with positioning circuitry 1345. The positioning circuitry1345 includes circuitry to receive and decode signalstransmitted/broadcasted by a positioning network of a GNSS. Examples ofnavigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) include United States'GPS, Russia's GLONASS, the European Union's Galileo system, China'sBeiDou Navigation Satellite System, a regional navigation system or GNSSaugmentation system (e.g., NAVIC), Japan's QZSS, France's DORIS, etc.),or the like. The positioning circuitry 1345 comprises various hardwareelements (e.g., including hardware devices such as switches, filters,amplifiers, antenna elements, and the like to facilitate OTAcommunications) to communicate with components of a positioning network,such as navigation satellite constellation nodes. In some embodiments,the positioning circuitry 1345 may include a Micro-PNT IC that uses amaster timing clock to perform position tracking/estimation without GNSSassistance. The positioning circuitry 1345 may also be part of, orinteract with, the baseband circuitry 1210 and/or RFEMs 1315 tocommunicate with the nodes and components of the positioning network.The positioning circuitry 1345 may also provide position data and/ortime data to the application circuitry 1305, which may use the data tosynchronize operations with various infrastructure (e.g., radio basestations), for turn-by-turn navigation applications, or the like

In some implementations, the interface circuitry may connect theplatform 1300 with Near-Field Communication (NFC) circuitry 1340. NFCcircuitry 1340 is configured to provide contactless, short-rangecommunications based on radio frequency identification (RFID) standards,wherein magnetic field induction is used to enable communication betweenNFC circuitry 1340 and NFC-enabled devices external to the platform 1300(e.g., an “NFC touchpoint”). NFC circuitry 1340 comprises an NFCcontroller coupled with an antenna element and a processor coupled withthe NFC controller. The NFC controller may be a chip/IC providing NFCfunctionalities to the NFC circuitry 1340 by executing NFC controllerfirmware and an NFC stack. The NFC stack may be executed by theprocessor to control the NFC controller, and the NFC controller firmwaremay be executed by the NFC controller to control the antenna element toemit short-range RF signals. The RF signals may power a passive NFC tag(e.g., a microchip embedded in a sticker or wristband) to transmitstored data to the NFC circuitry 1340, or initiate data transfer betweenthe NFC circuitry 1340 and another active NFC device (e.g., a smartphoneor an NFC-enabled POS terminal) that is proximate to the platform 1300.

The driver circuitry 1346 may include software and hardware elementsthat operate to control particular devices that are embedded in theplatform 1300, attached to the platform 1300, or otherwisecommunicatively coupled with the platform 1300. The driver circuitry1346 may include individual drivers allowing other components of theplatform 1300 to interact with or control various input/output (I/O)devices that may be present within, or connected to, the platform 1300.For example, driver circuitry 1346 may include a display driver tocontrol and allow access to a display device, a touchscreen driver tocontrol and allow access to a touchscreen interface of the platform1300, sensor drivers to obtain sensor readings of sensor circuitry 1321and control and allow access to sensor circuitry 1321, EMC drivers toobtain actuator positions of the EMCs 1322 and/or control and allowaccess to the EMCs 1322, a camera driver to control and allow access toan embedded image capture device, audio drivers to control and allowaccess to one or more audio devices.

The power management integrated circuitry (PMIC) 1325 (also referred toas “power management circuitry 1325”) may manage power provided tovarious components of the platform 1300. In particular, with respect tothe baseband circuitry 1310, the PMIC 1325 may control power-sourceselection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-to-DC conversion.The PMIC 1325 may often be included when the platform 1300 is capable ofbeing powered by a battery 1330, for example, when the device isincluded in a UE 901, 902, 1001.

In some embodiments, the PMIC 1325 may control, or otherwise be part of,various power saving mechanisms of the platform 1300. For example, ifthe platform 1300 is in an RRC_Connected state, where it is stillconnected to the RAN node as it expects to receive traffic shortly, thenit may enter a state known as Discontinuous Reception Mode (DRX) after aperiod of inactivity. During this state, the platform 1300 may powerdown for brief intervals of time and thus save power. If there is nodata traffic activity for an extended period of time, then the platform1300 may transition off to an RRC_Idle state, where it disconnects fromthe network and does not perform operations such as channel qualityfeedback, handover, etc. The platform 1300 goes into a very low powerstate and it performs paging where again it periodically wakes up tolisten to the network and then powers down again. The platform 1300 maynot receive data in this state; in order to receive data, it musttransition back to RRC_Connected state. An additional power saving modemay allow a device to be unavailable to the network for periods longerthan a paging interval (ranging from seconds to a few hours). Duringthis time, the device is totally unreachable to the network and maypower down completely. Any data sent during this time incurs a largedelay and it is assumed the delay is acceptable.

A battery 1330 may power the platform 1300, although in some examplesthe platform 1300 may be mounted deployed in a fixed location, and mayhave a power supply coupled to an electrical grid. The battery 1330 maybe a lithium ion battery, a metal-air battery, such as a zinc-airbattery, an aluminum-air battery, a lithium-air battery, and the like.In some implementations, such as in V2X applications, the battery 1330may be a typical lead-acid automotive battery.

In some implementations, the battery 1330 may be a “smart battery,”which includes or is coupled with a Battery Management System (BMS) orbattery monitoring integrated circuitry. The BMS may be included in theplatform 1300 to track the state of charge (SoCh) of the battery 1330.The BMS may be used to monitor other parameters of the battery 1330 toprovide failure predictions, such as the state of health (SoH) and thestate of function (SoF) of the battery 1330. The BMS may communicate theinformation of the battery 1330 to the application circuitry 1305 orother components of the platform 1300. The BMS may also include ananalog-to-digital (ADC) convertor that allows the application circuitry1305 to directly monitor the voltage of the battery 1330 or the currentflow from the battery 1330. The battery parameters may be used todetermine actions that the platform 1300 may perform, such astransmission frequency, network operation, sensing frequency, and thelike.

A power block, or other power supply coupled to an electrical grid maybe coupled with the BMS to charge the battery 1330. In some examples,the power block 1330 may be replaced with a wireless power receiver toobtain the power wirelessly, for example, through a loop antenna in thecomputer platform 1300. In these examples, a wireless battery chargingcircuit may be included in the BMS. The specific charging circuitschosen may depend on the size of the battery 1330, and thus, the currentrequired. The charging may be performed using the Airfuel standardpromulgated by the Airfuel Alliance, the Qi wireless charging standardpromulgated by the Wireless Power Consortium, or the Rezence chargingstandard promulgated by the Alliance for Wireless Power, among others.

User interface circuitry 1350 includes various input/output (I/O)devices present within, or connected to, the platform 1300, and includesone or more user interfaces designed to enable user interaction with theplatform 1300 and/or peripheral component interfaces designed to enableperipheral component interaction with the platform 1300. The userinterface circuitry 1350 includes input device circuitry and outputdevice circuitry. Input device circuitry includes any physical orvirtual means for accepting an input including, inter alia, one or morephysical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), a physical keyboard,keypad, mouse, touchpad, touchscreen, microphones, scanner, headset,and/or the like. The output device circuitry includes any physical orvirtual means for showing information or otherwise conveyinginformation, such as sensor readings, actuator position(s), or otherlike information. Output device circuitry may include any number and/orcombinations of audio or visual display, including, inter alia, one ormore simple visual outputs/indicators (e.g., binary status indicators(e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)) and multi-character visual outputs,or more complex outputs such as display devices or touchscreens (e.g.,Liquid Chrystal Displays (LCD), LED displays, quantum dot displays,projectors, etc.), with the output of characters, graphics, multimediaobjects, and the like being generated or produced from the operation ofthe platform 1300. The output device circuitry may also include speakersor other audio emitting devices, printer(s), and/or the like. In someembodiments, the sensor circuitry 1321 may be used as the input devicecircuitry (e.g., an image capture device, motion capture device, or thelike) and one or more EMCs may be used as the output device circuitry(e.g., an actuator to provide haptic feedback or the like). In anotherexample, NFC circuitry comprising an NFC controller coupled with anantenna element and a processing device may be included to readelectronic tags and/or connect with another NFC-enabled device.Peripheral component interfaces may include, but are not limited to, anon-volatile memory port, a USB port, an audio jack, a power supplyinterface, etc.

Although not shown, the components of platform 1300 may communicate withone another using a suitable bus or interconnect (IX) technology, whichmay include any number of technologies, including ISA, EISA, PCI, PCIx,PCIe, a Time-Trigger Protocol (TTP) system, a FlexRay system, or anynumber of other technologies. The bus/IX may be a proprietary bus/IX,for example, used in a SoC based system. Other bus/IX systems may beincluded, such as an I²C interface, an SPI interface, point-to-pointinterfaces, and a power bus, among others.

FIG. 14 illustrates example components of baseband circuitry 1410 andradio front end modules (RFEM) 1415 in accordance with variousembodiments. The baseband circuitry 1410 corresponds to the basebandcircuitry 1210 and 1310 of FIGS. 12 and 13, respectively. The RFEM 1415corresponds to the RFEM 1215 and 1315 of FIGS. 12 and 13, respectively.As shown, the RFEMs 1415 may include Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry1406, front-end module (FEM) circuitry 1408, antenna array 1411 coupledtogether at least as shown.

The baseband circuitry 1410 includes circuitry and/or control logicconfigured to carry out various radio/network protocol and radio controlfunctions that enable communication with one or more radio networks viathe RF circuitry 1406. The radio control functions may include, but arenot limited to, signal modulation/demodulation, encoding/decoding, radiofrequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, modulation/demodulationcircuitry of the baseband circuitry 1410 may include Fast-FourierTransform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping/demappingfunctionality. In some embodiments, encoding/decoding circuitry of thebaseband circuitry 1410 may include convolution, tail-bitingconvolution, turbo, Viterbi, or Low Density Parity Check (LDPC)encoder/decoder functionality. Embodiments of modulation/demodulationand encoder/decoder functionality are not limited to these examples andmay include other suitable functionality in other embodiments. Thebaseband circuitry 1410 is configured to process baseband signalsreceived from a receive signal path of the RF circuitry 1406 and togenerate baseband signals for a transmit signal path of the RF circuitry1406. The baseband circuitry 1410 is configured to interface withapplication circuitry 1205/1305 (see FIGS. 12 and 13) for generation andprocessing of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of theRF circuitry 1406. The baseband circuitry 1410 may handle various radiocontrol functions.

The aforementioned circuitry and/or control logic of the basebandcircuitry 1410 may include one or more single or multi-core processors.For example, the one or more processors may include a 3G basebandprocessor 1404A, a 4G/LTE baseband processor 1404B, a 5G/NR basebandprocessor 1404C, or some other baseband processor(s) 1404D for otherexisting generations, generations in development or to be developed inthe future (e.g., sixth generation (6G), etc.). In other embodiments,some or all of the functionality of baseband processors 1404A-D may beincluded in modules stored in the memory 1404G and executed via aCentral Processing Unit (CPU) 1404E. In other embodiments, some or allof the functionality of baseband processors 1404A-D may be provided ashardware accelerators (e.g., FPGAs, ASICs, etc.) loaded with theappropriate bit streams or logic blocks stored in respective memorycells. In various embodiments, the memory 1404G may store program codeof a real-time OS (RTOS), which when executed by the CPU 1404E (or otherbaseband processor), is to cause the CPU 1404E (or other basebandprocessor) to manage resources of the baseband circuitry 1410, scheduletasks, etc. Examples of the RTOS may include Operating System Embedded(OSE)™ provided by Enea®, Nucleus RTOS™ provided by Mentor Graphics®,Versatile Real-Time Executive (VRTX) provided by Mentor Graphics®,ThreadX™ provided by Express Logic®, FreeRTOS, REX OS provided byQualcomm®, OKL4 provided by Open Kernel (OK) Labs®, or any othersuitable RTOS, such as those discussed herein. In addition, the basebandcircuitry 1410 includes one or more audio digital signal processor(s)(DSP) 1404F. The audio DSP(s) 1404F include elements forcompression/decompression and echo cancellation and may include othersuitable processing elements in other embodiments.

In some embodiments, each of the processors 1404A-1404E includerespective memory interfaces to send/receive data to/from the memory1404G. The baseband circuitry 1410 may further include one or moreinterfaces to communicatively couple to other circuitries/devices, suchas an interface to send/receive data to/from memory external to thebaseband circuitry 1410; an application circuitry interface tosend/receive data to/from the application circuitry 1205/1305 of FIGS.12-14); an RF circuitry interface to send/receive data to/from RFcircuitry 1406 of FIG. 14; a wireless hardware connectivity interface tosend/receive data to/from one or more wireless hardware elements (e.g.,Near Field Communication (NFC) components, Bluetooth®/Bluetooth® LowEnergy components, Wi-Fi® components, and/or the like); and a powermanagement interface to send/receive power or control signals to/fromthe PMIC 1325.

In alternate embodiments (which may be combined with the above describedembodiments), baseband circuitry 1410 comprises one or more digitalbaseband systems, which are coupled with one another via an interconnectsubsystem and to a CPU subsystem, an audio subsystem, and an interfacesubsystem. The digital baseband subsystems may also be coupled to adigital baseband interface and a mixed-signal baseband subsystem viaanother interconnect subsystem. Each of the interconnect subsystems mayinclude a bus system, point-to-point connections, network-on-chip (NOC)structures, and/or some other suitable bus or interconnect technology,such as those discussed herein. The audio subsystem may include DSPcircuitry, buffer memory, program memory, speech processing acceleratorcircuitry, data converter circuitry such as analog-to-digital anddigital-to-analog converter circuitry, analog circuitry including one ormore of amplifiers and filters, and/or other like components. In anaspect of the present disclosure, baseband circuitry 1410 may includeprotocol processing circuitry with one or more instances of controlcircuitry (not shown) to provide control functions for the digitalbaseband circuitry and/or radio frequency circuitry (e.g., the radiofront end modules 1415).

Although not shown by FIG. 14, in some embodiments, the basebandcircuitry 1410 includes individual processing device(s) to operate oneor more wireless communication protocols (e.g., a “multi-protocolbaseband processor” or “protocol processing circuitry”) and individualprocessing device(s) to implement PHY layer functions. In theseembodiments, the PHY layer functions include the aforementioned radiocontrol functions. In these embodiments, the protocol processingcircuitry operates or implements various protocol layers/entities of oneor more wireless communication protocols. In a first example, theprotocol processing circuitry may operate LTE protocol entities and/or5G/NR protocol entities when the baseband circuitry 1410 and/or RFcircuitry 1406 are part of mmWave communication circuitry or some othersuitable cellular communication circuitry. In the first example, theprotocol processing circuitry would operate MAC, RLC, PDCP, SDAP, RRC,and NAS functions. In a second example, the protocol processingcircuitry may operate one or more IEEE-based protocols when the basebandcircuitry 1410 and/or RF circuitry 1406 are part of a Wi-Ficommunication system. In the second example, the protocol processingcircuitry would operate Wi-Fi MAC and logical link control (LLC)functions. The protocol processing circuitry may include one or morememory structures (e.g., 1404G) to store program code and data foroperating the protocol functions, as well as one or more processingcores to execute the program code and perform various operations usingthe data. The baseband circuitry 1410 may also support radiocommunications for more than one wireless protocol.

The various hardware elements of the baseband circuitry 1410 discussedherein may be implemented, for example, as a solder-down substrateincluding one or more integrated circuits (ICs), a single packaged ICsoldered to a main circuit board or a multi-chip module containing twoor more ICs. In one example, the components of the baseband circuitry1410 may be suitably combined in a single chip or chipset, or disposedon a same circuit board. In another example, some or all of theconstituent components of the baseband circuitry 1410 and RF circuitry1406 may be implemented together such as, for example, a system on achip (SoC) or System-in-Package (SiP). In another example, some or allof the constituent components of the baseband circuitry 1410 may beimplemented as a separate SoC that is communicatively coupled with andRF circuitry 1406 (or multiple instances of RF circuitry 1406). In yetanother example, some or all of the constituent components of thebaseband circuitry 1410 and the application circuitry 1205/1305 may beimplemented together as individual SoCs mounted to a same circuit board(e.g., a “multi-chip package”).

In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 1410 may provide forcommunication compatible with one or more radio technologies. Forexample, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 1410 may supportcommunication with an E-UTRAN or other WMAN, a WLAN, a WPAN. Embodimentsin which the baseband circuitry 1410 is configured to support radiocommunications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to asmulti-mode baseband circuitry.

RF circuitry 1406 may enable communication with wireless networks usingmodulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. Invarious embodiments, the RF circuitry 1406 may include switches,filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the communication with thewireless network. RF circuitry 1406 may include a receive signal path,which may include circuitry to down-convert RF signals received from theFEM circuitry 1408 and provide baseband signals to the basebandcircuitry 1410. RF circuitry 1406 may also include a transmit signalpath, which may include circuitry to up-convert baseband signalsprovided by the baseband circuitry 1410 and provide RF output signals tothe FEM circuitry 1408 for transmission.

In some embodiments, the receive signal path of the RF circuitry 1406may include mixer circuitry 1406 a, amplifier circuitry 1406 b andfilter circuitry 1406 c. In some embodiments, the transmit signal pathof the RF circuitry 1406 may include filter circuitry 1406 c and mixercircuitry 1406 a. RF circuitry 1406 may also include synthesizercircuitry 1406 d for synthesizing a frequency for use by the mixercircuitry 1406 a of the receive signal path and the transmit signalpath. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1406 a of the receivesignal path may be configured to down-convert RF signals received fromthe FEM circuitry 1408 based on the synthesized frequency provided bysynthesizer circuitry 1406 d. The amplifier circuitry 1406 b may beconfigured to amplify the down-converted signals and the filtercircuitry 1406 c may be a low-pass filter (LPF) or band-pass filter(BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-convertedsignals to generate output baseband signals. Output baseband signals maybe provided to the baseband circuitry 1410 for further processing. Insome embodiments, the output baseband signals may be zero-frequencybaseband signals, although this is not a requirement. In someembodiments, mixer circuitry 1406 a of the receive signal path maycomprise passive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments is notlimited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1406 a of the transmit signalpath may be configured to up-convert input baseband signals based on thesynthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuitry 1406 d togenerate RF output signals for the FEM circuitry 1408. The basebandsignals may be provided by the baseband circuitry 1410 and may befiltered by filter circuitry 1406 c.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1406 a of the receive signalpath and the mixer circuitry 1406 a of the transmit signal path mayinclude two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadraturedownconversion and upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, themixer circuitry 1406 a of the receive signal path and the mixercircuitry 1406 a of the transmit signal path may include two or moremixers and may be arranged for image rejection (e.g., Hartley imagerejection). In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 1406 a of thereceive signal path and the mixer circuitry 1406 a of the transmitsignal path may be arranged for direct downconversion and directupconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry1406 a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 1406 a of thetransmit signal path may be configured for super-heterodyne operation.

In some embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input basebandsignals may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of theembodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternateembodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signalsmay be digital baseband signals. In these alternate embodiments, the RFcircuitry 1406 may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) anddigital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry and the baseband circuitry1410 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RFcircuitry 1406.

In some dual-mode embodiments, a separate radio IC circuitry may beprovided for processing signals for each spectrum, although the scope ofthe embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 1406 d may be afractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer, although thescope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect as other typesof frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizercircuitry 1406 d may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequencymultiplier, or a synthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with afrequency divider.

The synthesizer circuitry 1406 d may be configured to synthesize anoutput frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 1406 a of the RFcircuitry 1406 based on a frequency input and a divider control input.In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 1406 d may be afractional N/N+1 synthesizer.

In some embodiments, frequency input may be provided by a voltagecontrolled oscillator (VCO), although that is not a requirement. Dividercontrol input may be provided by either the baseband circuitry 1410 orthe application circuitry 1205/1305 depending on the desired outputfrequency. In some embodiments, a divider control input (e.g., N) may bedetermined from a look-up table based on a channel indicated by theapplication circuitry 1205/1305.

Synthesizer circuitry 1406 d of the RF circuitry 1406 may include adivider, a delay-locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer and a phaseaccumulator. In some embodiments, the divider may be a dual modulusdivider (DMD) and the phase accumulator may be a digital phaseaccumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured todivide the input signal by either N or N+1 (e.g., based on a carry out)to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, theDLL may include a set of cascaded, tunable, delay elements, a phasedetector, a charge pump and a D-type flip-flop. In these embodiments,the delay elements may be configured to break a VCO period up into Ndequal packets of phase, where Nd is the number of delay elements in thedelay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to helpensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle.

In some embodiments, synthesizer circuitry 1406 d may be configured togenerate a carrier frequency as the output frequency, while in otherembodiments, the output frequency may be a multiple of the carrierfrequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrierfrequency) and used in conjunction with quadrature generator and dividercircuitry to generate multiple signals at the carrier frequency withmultiple different phases with respect to each other. In someembodiments, the output frequency may be a LO frequency (fLO). In someembodiments, the RF circuitry 1406 may include an IQ/polar converter.

FEM circuitry 1408 may include a receive signal path, which may includecircuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from antennaarray 1411, amplify the received signals and provide the amplifiedversions of the received signals to the RF circuitry 1406 for furtherprocessing. FEM circuitry 1408 may also include a transmit signal path,which may include circuitry configured to amplify signals fortransmission provided by the RF circuitry 1406 for transmission by oneor more of antenna elements of antenna array 1411. In variousembodiments, the amplification through the transmit or receive signalpaths may be done solely in the RF circuitry 1406, solely in the FEMcircuitry 1408, or in both the RF circuitry 1406 and the FEM circuitry1408.

In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry 1408 may include a TX/RX switchto switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEMcircuitry 1408 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signalpath. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 1408 may include anLNA to amplify received RF signals and provide the amplified received RFsignals as an output (e.g., to the RF circuitry 1406). The transmitsignal path of the FEM circuitry 1408 may include a power amplifier (PA)to amplify input RF signals (e.g., provided by RF circuitry 1406), andone or more filters to generate RF signals for subsequent transmissionby one or more antenna elements of the antenna array 1411.

The antenna array 1411 comprises one or more antenna elements, each ofwhich is configured convert electrical signals into radio waves totravel through the air and to convert received radio waves intoelectrical signals. For example, digital baseband signals provided bythe baseband circuitry 1410 is converted into analog RF signals (e.g.,modulated waveform) that will be amplified and transmitted via theantenna elements of the antenna array 1411 including one or more antennaelements (not shown). The antenna elements may be omnidirectional,direction, or a combination thereof. The antenna elements may be formedin a multitude of arranges as are known and/or discussed herein. Theantenna array 1411 may comprise microstrip antennas or printed antennasthat are fabricated on the surface of one or more printed circuitboards. The antenna array 1411 may be formed in as a patch of metal foil(e.g., a patch antenna) in a variety of shapes, and may be coupled withthe RF circuitry 1406 and/or FEM circuitry 1408 using metal transmissionlines or the like.

Processors of the application circuitry 1205/1305 and processors of thebaseband circuitry 1410 may be used to execute elements of one or moreinstances of a protocol stack. For example, processors of the basebandcircuitry 1410, alone or in combination, may be used execute Layer 3,Layer 2, or Layer 1 functionality, while processors of the applicationcircuitry 1205/1305 may utilize data (e.g., packet data) received fromthese layers and further execute Layer 4 functionality (e.g., TCP andUDP layers). As referred to herein, Layer 3 may comprise a RRC layer,described in further detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 2 maycomprise a MAC layer, an RLC layer, and a PDCP layer, described infurther detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 1 may comprise a PHYlayer of a UE/RAN node, described in further detail below.

FIG. 15 illustrates various protocol functions that may be implementedin a wireless communication device according to various embodiments. Inparticular, FIG. 15 includes an arrangement 1500 showinginterconnections between various protocol layers/entities. The followingdescription of FIG. 15 is provided for various protocol layers/entitiesthat operate in conjunction with the 5G/NR system standards and LTEsystem standards, but some or all of the aspects of FIG. 15 may beapplicable to other wireless communication network systems as well.

The protocol layers of arrangement 1500 may include one or more of PHY1510, MAC 1520, RLC 1530, PDCP 1540, SDAP 1547, RRC 1555, and NAS layer1557, in addition to other higher layer functions not illustrated. Theprotocol layers may include one or more service access points (e.g.,items 1559, 1556, 1550, 1549, 1545, 1535, 1525, and 1515 in FIG. 15)that may provide communication between two or more protocol layers.

The PHY 1510 may transmit and receive physical layer signals 1505 thatmay be received from or transmitted to one or more other communicationdevices. The physical layer signals 1505 may comprise one or morephysical channels, such as those discussed herein. The PHY 1510 mayfurther perform link adaptation or adaptive modulation and coding (AMC),power control, cell search (e.g., for initial synchronization andhandover purposes), and other measurements used by higher layers, suchas the RRC 1555. The PHY 1510 may still further perform error detectionon the transport channels, forward error correction (FEC)coding/decoding of the transport channels, modulation/demodulation ofphysical channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping onto physicalchannels, and MIMO antenna processing. In embodiments, an instance ofPHY 1510 may process requests from and provide indications to aninstance of MAC 1520 via one or more PHY-SAP 1515. According to someembodiments, requests and indications communicated via PHY-SAP 1515 maycomprise one or more transport channels.

Instance(s) of MAC 1520 may process requests from, and provideindications to, an instance of RLC 1530 via one or more MAC-SAPs 1525.These requests and indications communicated via the MAC-SAP 1525 maycomprise one or more logical channels. The MAC 1520 may perform mappingbetween the logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MACSDUs from one or more logical channels onto TBs to be delivered to PHY1510 via the transport channels, de-multiplexing MAC SDUs to one or morelogical channels from TBs delivered from the PHY 1510 via transportchannels, multiplexing MAC SDUs onto TBs, scheduling informationreporting, error correction through HARQ, and logical channelprioritization.

Instance(s) of RLC 1530 may process requests from and provideindications to an instance of PDCP 1540 via one or more radio linkcontrol service access points (RLC-SAP) 1535. These requests andindications communicated via RLC-SAP 1535 may comprise one or more RLCchannels. The RLC 1530 may operate in a plurality of modes of operation,including: Transparent Mode™, Unacknowledged Mode (UM), and AcknowledgedMode (AM). The RLC 1530 may execute transfer of upper layer protocoldata units (PDUs), error correction through automatic repeat request(ARQ) for AM data transfers, and concatenation, segmentation andreassembly of RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transfers. The RLC 1530 mayalso execute re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs for AM data transfers,reorder RLC data PDUs for UM and AM data transfers, detect duplicatedata for UM and AM data transfers, discard RLC SDUs for UM and AM datatransfers, detect protocol errors for AM data transfers, and perform RLCre-establishment.

Instance(s) of PDCP 1540 may process requests from and provideindications to instance(s) of RRC 1555 and/or instance(s) of SDAP 1547via one or more packet data convergence protocol service access points(PDCP-SAP) 1545. These requests and indications communicated viaPDCP-SAP 1545 may comprise one or more radio bearers. The PDCP 1540 mayexecute header compression and decompression of IP data, maintain PDCPSequence Numbers (SNs), perform in-sequence delivery of upper layer PDUsat re-establishment of lower layers, eliminate duplicates of lower layerSDUs at re-establishment of lower layers for radio bearers mapped on RLCAM, cipher and decipher control plane data, perform integrity protectionand integrity verification of control plane data, control timer-baseddiscard of data, and perform security operations (e.g., ciphering,deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification, etc.).

Instance(s) of SDAP 1547 may process requests from and provideindications to one or more higher layer protocol entities via one ormore SDAP-SAP 1549. These requests and indications communicated viaSDAP-SAP 1549 may comprise one or more QoS flows. The SDAP 1547 may mapQoS flows to DRBs, and vice versa, and may also mark QFIs in DL and ULpackets. A single SDAP entity 1547 may be configured for an individualPDU session. In the UL direction, the NG-RAN 910 may control the mappingof QoS Flows to DRB(s) in two different ways, reflective mapping orexplicit mapping. For reflective mapping, the SDAP 1547 of a UE 901 maymonitor the QFIs of the DL packets for each DRB, and may apply the samemapping for packets flowing in the UL direction. For a DRB, the SDAP1547 of the UE 901 may map the UL packets belonging to the QoS flows(s)corresponding to the QoS flow ID(s) and PDU session observed in the DLpackets for that DRB. To enable reflective mapping, the NG-RAN 1110 maymark DL packets over the Uu interface with a QoS flow ID. The explicitmapping may involve the RRC 1555 configuring the SDAP 1547 with anexplicit QoS flow to DRB mapping rule, which may be stored and followedby the SDAP 1547. In embodiments, the SDAP 1547 may only be used in NRimplementations and may not be used in LTE implementations.

The RRC 1555 may configure, via one or more management service accesspoints (M-SAP), aspects of one or more protocol layers, which mayinclude one or more instances of PHY 1510, MAC 1520, RLC 1530, PDCP 1540and SDAP 1547. In embodiments, an instance of RRC 1555 may processrequests from and provide indications to one or more NAS entities 1557via one or more RRC-SAPs 1556. The main services and functions of theRRC 1555 may include broadcast of system information (e.g., included inMIBs or SIBs related to the NAS), broadcast of system informationrelated to the access stratum (AS), paging, establishment, maintenanceand release of an RRC connection between the UE 901 and RAN 910 (e.g.,RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connectionmodification, and RRC connection release), establishment, configuration,maintenance and release of point to point Radio Bearers, securityfunctions including key management, inter-RAT mobility, and measurementconfiguration for UE measurement reporting. The MIBs and SIBs maycomprise one or more IEs, which may each comprise individual data fieldsor data structures.

The NAS 1557 may form the highest stratum of the control plane betweenthe UE 901 and the AMF 1121. The NAS 1557 may support the mobility ofthe UEs 901 and the session management procedures to establish andmaintain IP connectivity between the UE 901 and a P-GW in LTE systems.

According to various embodiments, one or more protocol entities ofarrangement 1500 may be implemented in UEs 901, RAN nodes 911, AMF 1121in NR implementations or MME 1021 in LTE implementations, UPF 1102 in NRimplementations or S-GW 1022 and P-GW 1023 in LTE implementations, orthe like to be used for control plane or user plane communicationsprotocol stack between the aforementioned devices. In such embodiments,one or more protocol entities that may be implemented in one or more ofUE 901, gNB 911, AMF 1121, etc. may communicate with a respective peerprotocol entity that may be implemented in or on another device usingthe services of respective lower layer protocol entities to perform suchcommunication. In some embodiments, a gNB-CU of the gNB 911 may host theRRC 1555, SDAP 1547, and PDCP 1540 of the gNB that controls theoperation of one or more gNB-DUs, and the gNB-DUs of the gNB 911 mayeach host the RLC 1530, MAC 1520, and PHY 1510 of the gNB 911.

In a first example, a control plane protocol stack may comprise, inorder from highest layer to lowest layer, NAS 1557, RRC 1555, PDCP 1540,RLC 1530, MAC 1520, and PHY 1510. In this example, upper layers 1560 maybe built on top of the NAS 1557, which includes an IP layer 1561, anSCTP 1562, and an application layer signaling protocol (AP) 1563.

In NR implementations, the AP 1563 may be an NG application protocollayer (NGAP or NG-AP) 1563 for the NG interface 913 defined between theNG-RAN node 911 and the AMF 1121, or the AP 1563 may be an Xnapplication protocol layer (XnAP or Xn-AP) 1563 for the Xn interface 912that is defined between two or more RAN nodes 911.

The NG-AP 1563 may support the functions of the NG interface 913 and maycomprise Elementary Procedures (EPs). An NG-AP EP may be a unit ofinteraction between the NG-RAN node 911 and the AMF 1121. The NG-AP 1563services may comprise two groups: UE-associated services (e.g., servicesrelated to a UE 901, 902) and non-UE-associated services (e.g., servicesrelated to the whole NG interface instance between the NG-RAN node 911and AMF 1121). These services may include functions including, but notlimited to: a paging function for the sending of paging requests toNG-RAN nodes 911 involved in a particular paging area; a UE contextmanagement function for allowing the AMF 1121 to establish, modify,and/or release a UE context in the AMF 1121 and the NG-RAN node 911; amobility function for UEs 901 in ECM-CONNECTED mode for intra-system HOsto support mobility within NG-RAN and inter-system HOs to supportmobility from/to EPS systems; a NAS Signaling Transport function fortransporting or rerouting NAS messages between UE 901 and AMF 1121; aNAS node selection function for determining an association between theAMF 1121 and the UE 901; NG interface management function(s) for settingup the NG interface and monitoring for errors over the NG interface; awarning message transmission function for providing means to transferwarning messages via NG interface or cancel ongoing broadcast of warningmessages; a Configuration Transfer function for requesting andtransferring of RAN configuration information (e.g., SON information,performance measurement (PM) data, etc.) between two RAN nodes 911 viaCN 920; and/or other like functions.

The XnAP 1563 may support the functions of the Xn interface 912 and maycomprise XnAP basic mobility procedures and XnAP global procedures. TheXnAP basic mobility procedures may comprise procedures used to handle UEmobility within the NG RAN 911 (or E-UTRAN 1010), such as handoverpreparation and cancellation procedures, SN Status Transfer procedures,UE context retrieval and UE context release procedures, RAN pagingprocedures, dual connectivity related procedures, and the like. The XnAPglobal procedures may comprise procedures that are not related to aspecific UE 901, such as Xn interface setup and reset procedures, NG-RANupdate procedures, cell activation procedures, and the like.

In LTE implementations, the AP 1563 may be an S1 Application Protocollayer (S1-AP) 1563 for the S1 interface 913 defined between an E-UTRANnode 911 and an MME, or the AP 1563 may be an X2 application protocollayer (X2AP or X2-AP) 1563 for the X2 interface 912 that is definedbetween two or more E-UTRAN nodes 911.

The S1 Application Protocol layer (S1-AP) 1563 may support the functionsof the S1 interface, and similar to the NG-AP discussed previously, theS1-AP may comprise S1-AP EPs. An S1-AP EP may be a unit of interactionbetween the E-UTRAN node 911 and an MME 1021 within an LTE CN 920. TheS1-AP 1563 services may comprise two groups: UE-associated services andnon UE-associated services. These services perform functions including,but not limited to: E-UTRAN Radio Access Bearer (E-RAB) management, UEcapability indication, mobility, NAS signaling transport, RANInformation Management (RIM), and configuration transfer.

The X2AP 1563 may support the functions of the X2 interface 912 and maycomprise X2AP basic mobility procedures and X2AP global procedures. TheX2AP basic mobility procedures may comprise procedures used to handle UEmobility within the E-UTRAN 920, such as handover preparation andcancellation procedures, SN Status Transfer procedures, UE contextretrieval and UE context release procedures, RAN paging procedures, dualconnectivity related procedures, and the like. The X2AP globalprocedures may comprise procedures that are not related to a specific UE901, such as X2 interface setup and reset procedures, load indicationprocedures, error indication procedures, cell activation procedures, andthe like.

The SCTP layer (alternatively referred to as the SCTP/IP layer) 1562 mayprovide guaranteed delivery of application layer messages (e.g., NGAP orXnAP messages in NR implementations, or S1-AP or X2AP messages in LTEimplementations). The SCTP 1562 may ensure reliable delivery ofsignaling messages between the RAN node 911 and the AMF 1121/MME 1021based, in part, on the IP protocol, supported by the IP 1561. TheInternet Protocol layer (IP) 1561 may be used to perform packetaddressing and routing functionality. In some implementations the IPlayer 1561 may use point-to-point transmission to deliver and conveyPDUs. In this regard, the RAN node 911 may comprise L2 and L1 layercommunication links (e.g., wired or wireless) with the MME/AMF toexchange information.

In a second example, a user plane protocol stack may comprise, in orderfrom highest layer to lowest layer, SDAP 1547, PDCP 1540, RLC 1530, MAC1520, and PHY 1510. The user plane protocol stack may be used forcommunication between the UE 901, the RAN node 911, and UPF 1102 in NRimplementations or an S-GW 1022 and P-GW 1023 in LTE implementations. Inthis example, upper layers 1551 may be built on top of the SDAP 1547,and may include a user datagram protocol (UDP) and IP security layer(UDP/IP) 1552, a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Tunneling Protocolfor the user plane layer (GTP-U) 1553, and a User Plane PDU layer (UPPDU) 1563.

The transport network layer 1554 (also referred to as a “transportlayer”) may be built on IP transport, and the GTP-U 1553 may be used ontop of the UDP/IP layer 1552 (comprising a UDP layer and IP layer) tocarry user plane PDUs (UP-PDUs). The IP layer (also referred to as the“Internet layer”) may be used to perform packet addressing and routingfunctionality. The IP layer may assign IP addresses to user data packetsin any of IPv4, IPv6, or PPP formats, for example.

The GTP-U 1553 may be used for carrying user data within the GPRS corenetwork and between the radio access network and the core network. Theuser data transported can be packets in any of IPv4, IPv6, or PPPformats, for example. The UDP/IP 1552 may provide checksums for dataintegrity, port numbers for addressing different functions at the sourceand destination, and encryption and authentication on the selected dataflows. The RAN node 911 and the S-GW 1022 may utilize an S1-U interfaceto exchange user plane data via a protocol stack comprising an L1 layer(e.g., PHY 1510), an L2 layer (e.g., MAC 1520, RLC 1530, PDCP 1540,and/or SDAP 1547), the UDP/IP layer 1552, and the GTP-U 1553. The S-GW1022 and the P-GW 1023 may utilize an S5/S8a interface to exchange userplane data via a protocol stack comprising an L1 layer, an L2 layer, theUDP/IP layer 1552, and the GTP-U 1553. As discussed previously, NASprotocols may support the mobility of the UE 901 and the sessionmanagement procedures to establish and maintain IP connectivity betweenthe UE 901 and the P-GW 1023.

Moreover, although not shown by FIG. 15, an application layer may bepresent above the AP 1563 and/or the transport network layer 1554. Theapplication layer may be a layer in which a user of the UE 901, RAN node911, or other network element interacts with software applications beingexecuted, for example, by application circuitry 1205 or applicationcircuitry 1305, respectively. The application layer may also provide oneor more interfaces for software applications to interact withcommunications systems of the UE 901 or RAN node 911, such as thebaseband circuitry 1410. In some implementations the IP layer and/or theapplication layer may provide the same or similar functionality aslayers 5-7, or portions thereof, of the Open Systems Interconnection(OSI) model (e.g., OSI Layer 7—the application layer, OSI Layer 6—thepresentation layer, and OSI Layer 5—the session layer).

FIG. 16 illustrates components of a core network in accordance withvarious embodiments. The components of the CN 1020 may be implemented inone physical node or separate physical nodes including components toread and execute instructions from a machine-readable orcomputer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readablestorage medium). In embodiments, the components of CN 1120 may beimplemented in a same or similar manner as discussed herein with regardto the components of CN 1020. In some embodiments, NFV is utilized tovirtualize any or all of the above-described network node functions viaexecutable instructions stored in one or more computer-readable storagemediums (described in further detail below). A logical instantiation ofthe CN 1020 may be referred to as a network slice 1601, and individuallogical instantiations of the CN 1020 may provide specific networkcapabilities and network characteristics. A logical instantiation of aportion of the CN 1020 may be referred to as a network sub-slice 1602(e.g., the network sub-slice 1602 is shown to include the P-GW 1023 andthe PCRF 1026).

As used herein, the terms “instantiate,” “instantiation,” and the likemay refer to the creation of an instance, and an “instance” may refer toa concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, duringexecution of program code. A network instance may refer to informationidentifying a domain, which may be used for traffic detection androuting in case of different IP domains or overlapping IP addresses. Anetwork slice instance may refer to a set of network functions (NFs)instances and the resources (e.g., compute, storage, and networkingresources) required to deploy the network slice.

With respect to 5G systems (see, e.g., FIG. 11), a network slice alwayscomprises a RAN part and a CN part. The support of network slicingrelies on the principle that traffic for different slices is handled bydifferent PDU sessions. The network can realize the different networkslices by scheduling and also by providing different L1/L2configurations. The UE 1101 provides assistance information for networkslice selection in an appropriate RRC message, if it has been providedby NAS. While the network can support large number of slices, the UEneed not support more than 8 slices simultaneously.

A network slice may include the CN 1120 control plane and user planeNFs, NG-RANs 1110 in a serving PLMN, and a N3IWF functions in theserving PLMN. Individual network slices may have different S-NSSAIand/or may have different SSTs. NSSAI includes one or more S-NSSAIs, andeach network slice is uniquely identified by an S-NSSAI. Network slicesmay differ for supported features and network functions optimizations,and/or multiple network slice instances may deliver the sameservice/features but for different groups of UEs 1101 (e.g., enterpriseusers). For example, individual network slices may deliver differentcommitted service(s) and/or may be dedicated to a particular customer orenterprise. In this example, each network slice may have differentS-NSSAIs with the same SST but with different slice differentiators.Additionally, a single UE may be served with one or more network sliceinstances simultaneously via a 5G AN and associated with eight differentS-NSSAIs. Moreover, an AMF 1121 instance serving an individual UE 1101may belong to each of the network slice instances serving that UE.

Network Slicing in the NG-RAN 1110 involves RAN slice awareness. RANslice awareness includes differentiated handling of traffic fordifferent network slices, which have been pre-configured. Sliceawareness in the NG-RAN 1110 is introduced at the PDU session level byindicating the S-NSSAI corresponding to a PDU session in all signalingthat includes PDU session resource information. How the NG-RAN 1110supports the slice enabling in terms of NG-RAN functions (e.g., the setof network functions that comprise each slice) is implementationdependent. The NG-RAN 1110 selects the RAN part of the network sliceusing assistance information provided by the UE 1101 or the 5GC 1120,which unambiguously identifies one or more of the pre-configured networkslices in the PLMN. The NG-RAN 1110 also supports resource managementand policy enforcement between slices as per SLAs. A single NG-RAN nodemay support multiple slices, and the NG-RAN 1110 may also apply anappropriate RRM policy for the SLA in place to each supported slice. TheNG-RAN 1110 may also support QoS differentiation within a slice.

The NG-RAN 1110 may also use the UE assistance information for theselection of an AMF 1121 during an initial attach, if available. TheNG-RAN 1110 uses the assistance information for routing the initial NASto an AMF 1121. If the NG-RAN 1110 is unable to select an AMF 1121 usingthe assistance information, or the UE 1101 does not provide any suchinformation, the NG-RAN 1110 sends the NAS signaling to a default AMF1121, which may be among a pool of AMFs 1121. For subsequent accesses,the UE 1101 provides a temp ID, which is assigned to the UE 1101 by the5GC 1120, to enable the NG-RAN 1110 to route the NAS message to theappropriate AMF 1121 as long as the temp ID is valid. The NG-RAN 1110 isaware of, and can reach, the AMF 1121 that is associated with the tempID. Otherwise, the method for initial attach applies.

The NG-RAN 1110 supports resource isolation between slices. NG-RAN 1110resource isolation may be achieved by means of RRM policies andprotection mechanisms that should avoid that shortage of sharedresources if one slice breaks the service level agreement for anotherslice. In some implementations, it is possible to fully dedicate NG-RAN1110 resources to a certain slice. How NG-RAN 1110 supports resourceisolation is implementation dependent.

Some slices may be available only in part of the network. Awareness inthe NG-RAN 1110 of the slices supported in the cells of its neighborsmay be beneficial for inter-frequency mobility in connected mode. Theslice availability may not change within the UE's registration area. TheNG-RAN 1110 and the 5GC 1120 are responsible to handle a service requestfor a slice that may or may not be available in a given area. Admissionor rejection of access to a slice may depend on factors such as supportfor the slice, availability of resources, support of the requestedservice by NG-RAN 1110.

The UE 1101 may be associated with multiple network slicessimultaneously. In case the UE 1101 is associated with multiple slicessimultaneously, only one signaling connection is maintained, and forintra-frequency cell reselection, the UE 1101 tries to camp on the bestcell. For inter-frequency cell reselection, dedicated priorities can beused to control the frequency on which the UE 1101 camps. The 5GC 1120is to validate that the UE 1101 has the rights to access a networkslice. Prior to receiving an Initial Context Setup Request message, theNG-RAN 1110 may be allowed to apply some provisional/local policies,based on awareness of a particular slice that the UE 1101 is requestingto access. During the initial context setup, the NG-RAN 1110 is informedof the slice for which resources are being requested.

NFV architectures and infrastructures may be used to virtualize one ormore NFs, alternatively performed by proprietary hardware, onto physicalresources comprising a combination of industry-standard server hardware,storage hardware, or switches. In other words, NFV systems can be usedto execute virtual or reconfigurable implementations of one or more EPCcomponents/functions.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to someexample embodiments, of a system 1700 to support NFV. The system 1700 isillustrated as including a VIM 1702, an NFVI 1704, an VNFM 1706, VNFs1708, an EM 1710, an NFVO 1712, and a NM 1714.

The VIM 1702 manages the resources of the NFVI 1704. The NFVI 1704 caninclude physical or virtual resources and applications (includinghypervisors) used to execute the system 1700. The VIM 1702 may managethe life cycle of virtual resources with the NFVI 1704 (e.g., creation,maintenance, and tear down of VMs associated with one or more physicalresources), track VM instances, track performance, fault and security ofVM instances and associated physical resources, and expose VM instancesand associated physical resources to other management systems.

The VNFM 1706 may manage the VNFs 1708. The VNFs 1708 may be used toexecute EPC components/functions. The VNFM 1706 may manage the lifecycle of the VNFs 1708 and track performance, fault and security of thevirtual aspects of VNFs 1708. The EM 1710 may track the performance,fault and security of the functional aspects of VNFs 1708. The trackingdata from the VNFM 1706 and the EM 1710 may comprise, for example, PMdata used by the VIM 1702 or the NFVI 1704. Both the VNFM 1706 and theEM 1710 can scale up/down the quantity of VNFs of the system 1700.

The NFVO 1712 may coordinate, authorize, release and engage resources ofthe NFVI 1704 in order to provide the requested service (e.g., toexecute an EPC function, component, or slice). The NM 1714 may provide apackage of end-user functions with the responsibility for the managementof a network, which may include network elements with VNFs,non-virtualized network functions, or both (management of the VNFs mayoccur via the EM 1710).

FIG. 18 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to someexample embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readableor computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readablestorage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein. Specifically, FIG. 18 shows a diagrammaticrepresentation of hardware resources 1800 including one or moreprocessors (or processor cores) 1810, one or more memory/storage devices1820, and one or more communication resources 1830, each of which may becommunicatively coupled via a bus 1840. For embodiments where nodevirtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 1802 may beexecuted to provide an execution environment for one or more networkslices/sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 1800.

The processors 1810 may include, for example, a processor 1812 and aprocessor 1814. The processor(s) 1810 may be, for example, a centralprocessing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC)processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, agraphics processing unit (GPU), a DSP such as a baseband processor, anASIC, an FPGA, a radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), anotherprocessor (including those discussed herein), or any suitablecombination thereof.

The memory/storage devices 1820 may include main memory, disk storage,or any suitable combination thereof. The memory/storage devices 1820 mayinclude, but are not limited to, any type of volatile or nonvolatilememory such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random accessmemory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM),electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), Flashmemory, solid-state storage, etc.

The communication resources 1830 may include interconnection or networkinterface components or other suitable devices to communicate with oneor more peripheral devices 1804 or one or more databases 1806 via anetwork 1808. For example, the communication resources 1830 may includewired communication components (e.g., for coupling via USB), cellularcommunication components, NFC components, Bluetooth® (or Bluetooth® LowEnergy) components, Wi-Fi® components, and other communicationcomponents.

Instructions 1850 may comprise software, a program, an application, anapplet, an app, or other executable code for causing at least any of theprocessors 1810 to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein. The instructions 1850 may reside, completely orpartially, within at least one of the processors 1810 (e.g., within theprocessor's cache memory), the memory/storage devices 1820, or anysuitable combination thereof. Furthermore, any portion of theinstructions 1850 may be transferred to the hardware resources 1800 fromany combination of the peripheral devices 1804 or the databases 1806.Accordingly, the memory of processors 1810, the memory/storage devices1820, the peripheral devices 1804, and the databases 1806 are examplesof computer-readable and machine-readable media.

For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components set forth inone or more of the preceding figures may be configured to perform one ormore operations, techniques, processes, and/or methods as set forth inthe example section below. For example, the baseband circuitry asdescribed above in connection with one or more of the preceding figuresmay be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of theexamples set forth below. For another example, circuitry associated witha UE, base station, network element, etc. as described above inconnection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configuredto operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forthbelow in the example section.

Examples

Example 1 may include system and method of wireless communication for afifth generation (5G) or new radio (NR) system:

Aligning symbol boundary and slot boundary between cyclicprefix-orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (CP-OFDM) basedwaveform and single carrier waveform.

Example 2 may include the method of example 1 or some other exampleherein, wherein single carrier waveform includes at least singlecarrier-cyclic prefix-frequency domain equalizer (SC-CP-FDE) and singlecarrier-unique word-frequency domain equalizer (SC-UW-FDE).

Example 3 may include the method of example 1 or some other exampleherein, wherein a block of samples for single carrier waveform isdefined where (positive) integer number of blocks composes a referenceunit time duration; wherein The reference unit time duration can beequal to a slot duration of OFDM system with subcarrier spacing ofΔ_(f)=2^(n)·15 kHz and with cyclic prefix (CP) length that correspondsto 7.03125% of the DFT duration of the OFDM symbol, or integer multipleof slot duration of OFDM system, or 0.5 ms, or 1 ms.

Example 4 may include the method of example 1 or some other exampleherein, wherein efficient Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) size for DFToperation for single carrier waveform to convert the time domain signalto frequency domain signal can be defined as 2^(i)·3^(j)·5^(k), where i,j, k are non-negative integers.

Example 5 may include the method of example 1 or some other exampleherein, wherein integer fraction sampling rate between CP-OFDM andsingle carrier waveform is defined.

Example 6 may include the method of example 1 or some other exampleherein, wherein subframe boundary with duration of 1 ms is aligned forsingle carrier waveform with different sampling time (or chip rate);wherein within one subframe, slot duration is equally divided by aninteger, K, which also depends on the sampling time.

Example 7 may include the method of example 1 or some other exampleherein, wherein slot boundary for single carrier waveform can be alignedwith that for CP-OFDM and Discrete Fourier Transform-spread-OFDM(DFT-s-OFDM) waveform.

Example 8 may include the method of example 1 or some other exampleherein, wherein symbol boundary for single carrier waveform can bealigned with that for CP-OFDM and DFT-s-OFDM waveform.

Example 9 may include an apparatus comprising means to perform one ormore elements of a method described in or related to any of examples1-8, or any other method or process described herein.

Example 10 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia comprising instructions to cause an electronic device, uponexecution of the instructions by one or more processors of theelectronic device, to perform one or more elements of a method describedin or related to any of examples 1-8, or any other method or processdescribed herein.

Example 11 may include an apparatus comprising logic, modules, orcircuitry to perform one or more elements of a method described in orrelated to any of examples 1-8, or any other method or process describedherein.

Example 12 may include a method, technique, or process as described inor related to any of examples 1-8, or portions or parts thereof.

Example 13 may include an apparatus comprising: one or more processorsand one or more computer-readable media comprising instructions that,when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or moreprocessors to perform the method, techniques, or process as described inor related to any of examples 1-8, or portions thereof.

Example 14 may include a signal as described in or related to any ofexamples 1-8, or portions or parts thereof.

Example 15 may include a signal in a wireless network as shown anddescribed herein.

Example 16 may include a method of communicating in a wireless networkas shown and described herein.

Example 17 may include a system for providing wireless communication asshown and described herein.

Example 18 may include a device for providing wireless communication asshown and described herein.

Any of the above-described examples may be combined with any otherexample (or combination of examples), unless explicitly statedotherwise. The foregoing description of one or more implementationsprovides illustration and description, but is not intended to beexhaustive or to limit the scope of embodiments to the precise formdisclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of theabove teachings or may be acquired from practice of various embodiments.

Abbreviations

For the purposes of the present document, the following abbreviationsmay apply to the examples and embodiments discussed herein.

-   -   3GPP Third Generation Partnership Project    -   4G Fourth Generation    -   5G Fifth Generation    -   5GC 5G Core network    -   ACK Acknowledgement    -   AF Application Function    -   AM Acknowledged Mode    -   AMBR Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate    -   AMF Access and Mobility Management Function    -   AN Access Network    -   ANR Automatic Neighbour Relation    -   AP Application Protocol, Antenna Port, Access Point    -   API Application Programming Interface    -   APN Access Point Name    -   ARP Allocation and Retention Priority    -   ARQ Automatic Repeat Request    -   AS Access Stratum    -   ASN.1 Abstract Syntax Notation One    -   AUSF Authentication Server Function    -   AWGN Additive White Gaussian Noise    -   BCH Broadcast Channel    -   BER Bit Error Ratio    -   BFD Beam Failure Detection    -   BLER Block Error Rate    -   BPSK Binary Phase Shift Keying    -   BRAS Broadband Remote Access Server    -   BSS Business Support System    -   BS Base Station    -   BSR Buffer Status Report    -   BW Bandwidth    -   BWP Bandwidth Part    -   C-RNTI Cell Radio Network Temporary Identity    -   CA Carrier Aggregation, Certification Authority    -   CAPEX CAPital EXpenditure    -   CBRA Contention Based Random Access    -   CC Component Carrier, Country Code, Cryptographic Checksum    -   CCA Clear Channel Assessment    -   CCE Control Channel Element    -   CCCH Common Control Channel    -   CE Coverage Enhancement    -   CDM Content Delivery Network    -   CDMA Code-Division Multiple Access    -   CFRA Contention Free Random Access    -   CG Cell Group    -   CI Cell Identity    -   CID Cell-ID (e.g., positioning method)    -   CIM Common Information Model    -   CIR Carrier to Interference Ratio    -   CK Cipher Key    -   CM Connection Management, Conditional Mandatory    -   CMAS Commercial Mobile Alert Service    -   CMD Command    -   CMS Cloud Management System    -   CO Conditional Optional    -   CoMP Coordinated Multi-Point    -   CORESET Control Resource Set    -   COTS Commercial Off-The-Shelf    -   CP Control Plane, Cyclic Prefix, Connection Point    -   CPD Connection Point Descriptor    -   CPE Customer Premise Equipment    -   CPICH Common Pilot Channel    -   CQI Channel Quality Indicator    -   CPU CSI processing unit, Central Processing Unit    -   C/R Command/Response field bit    -   CRAN Cloud Radio Access Network, Cloud RAN    -   CRB Common Resource Block    -   CRC Cyclic Redundancy Check    -   CRI Channel-State Information Resource Indicator, CSI-RS        Resource Indicator    -   C-RNTI Cell RNTI    -   CS Circuit Switched    -   CSAR Cloud Service Archive    -   CSI Channel-State Information    -   CSI-IM CSI Interference Measurement    -   CSI-RS CSI Reference Signal    -   CSI-RSRP CSI reference signal received power    -   CSI-RSRQ CSI reference signal received quality    -   CSI-SINR CSI signal-to-noise and interference ratio    -   CSMA Carrier Sense Multiple Access    -   CSMA/CA CSMA with collision avoidance    -   CSS Common Search Space, Cell-specific Search Space    -   CTS Clear-to-Send    -   CW Codeword    -   CWS Contention Window Size    -   D2D Device-to-Device    -   DC Dual Connectivity, Direct Current    -   DCI Downlink Control Information    -   DF Deployment Flavour    -   DL Downlink    -   DMTF Distributed Management Task Force    -   DPDK Data Plane Development Kit    -   DM-RS, DMRS Demodulation Reference Signal    -   DN Data network    -   DRB Data Radio Bearer    -   DRS Discovery Reference Signal    -   DRX Discontinuous Reception    -   DSL Domain Specific Language. Digital Subscriber Line    -   DSLAM DSL Access Multiplexer    -   DwPTS Downlink Pilot Time Slot    -   E-LAN Ethernet Local Area Network    -   E2E End-to-End    -   ECCA extended clear channel assessment, extended CCA    -   ECCE Enhanced Control Channel Element, Enhanced CCE    -   ED Energy Detection    -   EDGE Enhanced Datarates for GSM Evolution (GSM Evolution)    -   EGMF Exposure Governance Management Function    -   EGPRS Enhanced GPRS    -   EIR Equipment Identity Register    -   eLAA enhanced Licensed Assisted Access, enhanced LAA    -   EM Element Manager    -   eMBB Enhanced Mobile Broadband    -   EMS Element Management System    -   eNB evolved NodeB, E-UTRAN Node B    -   EN-DC E-UTRA-NR Dual Connectivity    -   EPC Evolved Packet Core    -   EPDCCH enhanced PDCCH, enhanced Physical Downlink Control Cannel    -   EPRE Energy per resource element    -   EPS Evolved Packet System    -   EREG enhanced REG, enhanced resource element groups    -   ETSI European Telecommunications Standards Institute    -   ETWS Earthquake and Tsunami Warning System    -   eUICC embedded UICC, embedded Universal Integrated Circuit Card    -   E-UTRA Evolved UTRA    -   E-UTRAN Evolved UTRAN    -   EV2X Enhanced V2X    -   F1AP F1 Application Protocol    -   F1-C F1 Control plane interface    -   F1-U F1 User plane interface    -   FACCH Fast Associated Control CHannel    -   FACCH/F Fast Associated Control Channel/Full rate    -   FACCH/H Fast Associated Control Channel/Half rate    -   FACH Forward Access Channel    -   FAUSCH Fast Uplink Signalling Channel    -   FB Functional Block    -   FBI Feedback Information    -   FCC Federal Communications Commission    -   FCCH Frequency Correction CHannel    -   FDD Frequency Division Duplex    -   FDM Frequency Division Multiplex    -   FDMA Frequency Division Multiple Access    -   FE Front End    -   FEC Forward Error Correction    -   FFS For Further Study    -   FFT Fast Fourier Transformation    -   feLAA further enhanced Licensed Assisted Access, further        enhanced LAA    -   FN Frame Number    -   FPGA Field-Programmable Gate Array    -   FR Frequency Range    -   G-RNTI GERAN Radio Network Temporary Identity    -   GERAN GSM EDGE RAN, GSM EDGE Radio Access Network    -   GGSN Gateway GPRS Support Node    -   GLONASS GLObal'naya NAvigatsionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema (Engl.:        Global Navigation Satellite System)    -   gNB Next Generation NodeB    -   gNB-CU gNB-centralized unit, Next Generation NodeB centralized        unit    -   gNB-DU gNB-distributed unit, Next Generation NodeB distributed        unit    -   GNSS Global Navigation Satellite System    -   GPRS General Packet Radio Service    -   GSM Global System for Mobile Communications, Groupe Spécial        Mobile    -   GTP GPRS Tunneling Protocol    -   GTP-U GPRS Tunnelling Protocol for User Plane    -   GTS Go To Sleep Signal (related to WUS)    -   GUMMEI Globally Unique MME Identifier    -   GUTI Globally Unique Temporary UE Identity    -   HARQ Hybrid ARQ, Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request    -   HANDO, HO Handover    -   HFN HyperFrame Number    -   HHO Hard Handover    -   HLR Home Location Register    -   HN Home Network    -   HO Handover    -   HPLMN Home Public Land Mobile Network    -   HSDPA High Speed Downlink Packet Access    -   HSN Hopping Sequence Number    -   HSPA High Speed Packet Access    -   HSS Home Subscriber Server    -   HSUPA High Speed Uplink Packet Access    -   HTTP Hyper Text Transfer Protocol    -   HTTPS Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure (https is http/1.1        over SSL, i.e. port 443)    -   I-Block Information Block    -   ICCID Integrated Circuit Card Identification    -   ICIC Inter-Cell Interference Coordination    -   ID Identity, identifier    -   IDFT Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform    -   IE Information element    -   IBE In-Band Emission    -   IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers    -   IEI Information Element Identifier    -   IEIDL Information Element Identifier Data Length    -   IETF Internet Engineering Task Force    -   IF Infrastructure    -   IM Interference Measurement, Intermodulation, IP Multimedia    -   IMC IMS Credentials    -   IMEI International Mobile Equipment Identity    -   IMGI International mobile group identity    -   IMPI IP Multimedia Private Identity    -   IMPU IP Multimedia PUblic identity    -   IMS IP Multimedia Subsystem    -   IMSI International Mobile Subscriber Identity    -   IoT Internet of Things    -   IP Internet Protocol    -   Ipsec IP Security, Internet Protocol Security    -   IP-CAN IP-Connectivity Access Network    -   IP-M IP Multicast    -   IPv4 Internet Protocol Version 4    -   IPv6 Internet Protocol Version 6    -   IR Infrared    -   IS In Sync    -   IRP Integration Reference Point    -   ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network    -   ISIM IM Services Identity Module    -   ISO International Organisation for Standardisation    -   ISP Internet Service Provider    -   IWF Interworking-Function    -   I-WLAN Interworking WLAN    -   K Constraint length of the convolutional code, USIM Individual        key    -   kB Kilobyte (1000 bytes)    -   kbps kilo-bits per second    -   Kc Ciphering key    -   Ki Individual subscriber authentication key    -   KPI Key Performance Indicator    -   KQI Key Quality Indicator    -   KSI Key Set Identifier    -   ksps kilo-symbols per second    -   KVM Kernel Virtual Machine    -   L1 Layer 1 (physical layer)    -   L1-RSRP Layer 1 reference signal received power    -   L2 Layer 2 (data link layer)    -   L3 Layer 3 (network layer)    -   LAA Licensed Assisted Access    -   LAN Local Area Network    -   LBT Listen Before Talk    -   LCM LifeCycle Management    -   LCR Low Chip Rate    -   LCS Location Services    -   LCID Logical Channel ID    -   LI Layer Indicator    -   LLC Logical Link Control, Low Layer Compatibility    -   LPLMN Local PLMN    -   LPP LTE Positioning Protocol    -   LSB Least Significant Bit    -   LTE Long Term Evolution    -   LWA LTE-WLAN aggregation    -   LWIP LTE/WLAN Radio Level Integration with IPsec Tunnel    -   LTE Long Term Evolution    -   M2M Machine-to-Machine    -   MAC Medium Access Control (protocol layering context)    -   MAC Message authentication code (security/encryption context)    -   MAC-A MAC used for authentication and key agreement (TSG T WG3        context)    -   MAC-I MAC used for data integrity of signalling messages (TSG T        WG3 context)    -   MANO Management and Orchestration    -   MBMS Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Service    -   MBSFN Multimedia Broadcast multicast service Single Frequency        Network    -   MCC Mobile Country Code    -   MCG Master Cell Group    -   MCOT Maximum Channel Occupancy Time    -   MCS Modulation and coding scheme    -   MDAF Management Data Analytics Function    -   MDAS Management Data Analytics Service    -   MDT Minimization of Drive Tests    -   ME Mobile Equipment    -   MeNB master eNB    -   MER Message Error Ratio    -   MGL Measurement Gap Length    -   MGRP Measurement Gap Repetition Period    -   MIB Master Information Block, Management Information Base    -   MIMO Multiple Input Multiple Output    -   MLC Mobile Location Centre    -   MM Mobility Management    -   MME Mobility Management Entity    -   MN Master Node    -   MO Measurement Object, Mobile Originated    -   MPBCH MTC Physical Broadcast CHannel    -   MPDCCH MTC Physical Downlink Control CHannel    -   MPDSCH MTC Physical Downlink Shared CHannel    -   MPRACH MTC Physical Random Access CHannel    -   MPUSCH MTC Physical Uplink Shared Channel    -   MPLS MultiProtocol Label Switching    -   MS Mobile Station    -   MSB Most Significant Bit    -   MSC Mobile Switching Centre    -   MSI Minimum System Information, MCH Scheduling Information    -   MSID Mobile Station Identifier    -   MSIN Mobile Station Identification Number    -   MSISDN Mobile Subscriber ISDN Number    -   MT Mobile Terminated, Mobile Termination    -   MTC Machine-Type Communications    -   mMTC massive MTC, massive Machine-Type Communications    -   MU-MIMO Multi User MIMO    -   MWUS MTC wake-up signal, MTC WUS    -   NACK Negative Acknowledgement    -   NAI Network Access Identifier    -   NAS Non-Access Stratum, Non-Access Stratum layer    -   NCT Network Connectivity Topology    -   NEC Network Capability Exposure    -   NE-DC NR-E-UTRA Dual Connectivity    -   NEF Network Exposure Function    -   NF Network Function    -   NFP Network Forwarding Path    -   NFPD Network Forwarding Path Descriptor    -   NFV Network Functions Virtualization    -   NFVI NFV Infrastructure    -   NFVO NFV Orchestrator    -   NG Next Generation, Next Gen    -   NGEN-DC NG-RAN E-UTRA-NR Dual Connectivity    -   NM Network Manager    -   NMS Network Management System    -   N-PoP Network Point of Presence    -   NMIB, N-MIB Narrowband MIB    -   NPBCH Narrowband Physical Broadcast CHannel    -   NPDCCH Narrowband Physical Downlink Control CHannel    -   NPDSCH Narrowband Physical Downlink Shared CHannel    -   NPRACH Narrowband Physical Random Access CHannel    -   NPUSCH Narrowband Physical Uplink Shared CHannel    -   NPSS Narrowband Primary Synchronization Signal    -   NSSS Narrowband Secondary Synchronization Signal    -   NR New Radio, Neighbour Relation    -   NRF NF Repository Function    -   NRS Narrowband Reference Signal    -   NS Network Service    -   NSA Non-Standalone operation mode    -   NSD Network Service Descriptor    -   NSR Network Service Record    -   NSSAI ‘Network Slice Selection Assistance Information    -   S-NNSAI Single-NSSAI    -   NSSF Network Slice Selection Function    -   NW Network    -   NWUS Narrowband wake-up signal, Narrowband WUS    -   NZP Non-Zero Power    -   O&M Operation and Maintenance    -   ODU2 Optical channel Data Unit—type 2    -   OFDM Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing    -   OFDMA Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access    -   OOB Out-of-band    -   OOS Out of Sync    -   OPEX OPerating EXpense    -   OSI Other System Information    -   OSS Operations Support System    -   OTA over-the-air    -   PAPR Peak-to-Average Power Ratio    -   PAR Peak to Average Ratio    -   PBCH Physical Broadcast Channel    -   PC Power Control, Personal Computer    -   PCC Primary Component Carrier, Primary CC    -   PCell Primary Cell    -   PCI Physical Cell ID, Physical Cell Identity    -   PCEF Policy and Charging Enforcement Function    -   PCF Policy Control Function    -   PCRF Policy Control and Charging Rules Function    -   PDCP Packet Data Convergence Protocol, Packet Data Convergence        Protocol layer    -   PDCCH Physical Downlink Control Channel    -   PDCP Packet Data Convergence Protocol    -   PDN Packet Data Network, Public Data Network    -   PDSCH Physical Downlink Shared Channel    -   PDU Protocol Data Unit    -   PEI Permanent Equipment Identifiers    -   PFD Packet Flow Description    -   P-GW PDN Gateway    -   PHICH Physical hybrid-ARQ indicator channel    -   PHY Physical layer    -   PLMN Public Land Mobile Network    -   PIN Personal Identification Number    -   PM Performance Measurement    -   PMI Precoding Matrix Indicator    -   PNF Physical Network Function    -   PNFD Physical Network Function Descriptor    -   PNFR Physical Network Function Record    -   POC PTT over Cellular    -   PP, PTP Point-to-Point    -   PPP Point-to-Point Protocol    -   PRACH Physical RACH    -   PRB Physical resource block    -   PRG Physical resource block group    -   ProSe Proximity Services, Proximity-Based Service    -   PRS Positioning Reference Signal    -   PRR Packet Reception Radio    -   PS Packet Services    -   PSBCH Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel    -   PSDCH Physical Sidelink Downlink Channel    -   PSCCH Physical Sidelink Control Channel    -   PSSCH Physical Sidelink Shared Channel    -   PSCell Primary SCell    -   PSS Primary Synchronization Signal    -   PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network    -   PT-RS Phase-tracking reference signal    -   PTT Push-to-Talk    -   PUCCH Physical Uplink Control Channel    -   PUSCH Physical Uplink Shared Channel    -   QAM Quadrature Amplitude Modulation    -   QCI QoS class of identifier    -   QCL Quasi co-location    -   QFI QoS Flow ID, QoS Flow Identifier    -   QoS Quality of Service    -   QPSK Quadrature (Quaternary) Phase Shift Keying    -   QZSS Quasi-Zenith Satellite System    -   RA-RNTI Random Access RNTI    -   RAB Radio Access Bearer, Random Access Burst    -   RACH Random Access Channel    -   RADIUS Remote Authentication Dial In User Service    -   RAN Radio Access Network    -   RAND RANDom number (used for authentication)    -   RAR Random Access Response    -   RAT Radio Access Technology    -   RAU Routing Area Update    -   RB Resource block, Radio Bearer    -   RBG Resource block group    -   REG Resource Element Group    -   Rel Release    -   REQ REQuest    -   RF Radio Frequency    -   RI Rank Indicator    -   RIV Resource indicator value    -   RL Radio Link    -   RLC Radio Link Control, Radio Link Control layer    -   RLC AM RLC Acknowledged Mode    -   RLC UM RLC Unacknowledged Mode    -   RLF Radio Link Failure    -   RLM Radio Link Monitoring    -   RLM-RS Reference Signal for RLM    -   RM Registration Management    -   RMC Reference Measurement Channel    -   RMSI Remaining MSI, Remaining Minimum System Information    -   RN Relay Node    -   RNC Radio Network Controller    -   RNL Radio Network Layer    -   RNTI Radio Network Temporary Identifier    -   ROHC RObust Header Compression    -   RRC Radio Resource Control, Radio Resource Control layer    -   RRM Radio Resource Management    -   RS Reference Signal    -   RSRP Reference Signal Received Power    -   RSRQ Reference Signal Received Quality    -   RSSI Received Signal Strength Indicator    -   RSU Road Side Unit    -   RSTD Reference Signal Time difference    -   RTP Real Time Protocol    -   RTS Ready-To-Send    -   RTT Round Trip Time    -   Rx Reception, Receiving, Receiver    -   S1AP S1 Application Protocol    -   S1-MME S1 for the control plane    -   S1-U S1 for the user plane    -   S-GW Serving Gateway    -   S-RNTI SRNC Radio Network Temporary Identity    -   S-TMSI SAE Temporary Mobile Station Identifier    -   SA Standalone operation mode    -   SAE System Architecture Evolution    -   SAP Service Access Point    -   SAPD Service Access Point Descriptor    -   SAPI Service Access Point Identifier    -   SCC Secondary Component Carrier, Secondary CC    -   SCell Secondary Cell    -   SC-FDMA Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access    -   SCG Secondary Cell Group    -   SCM Security Context Management    -   SCS Subcarrier Spacing    -   SCTP Stream Control Transmission Protocol    -   SDAP Service Data Adaptation Protocol, Service Data Adaptation        Protocol layer    -   SDL Supplementary Downlink    -   SDNF Structured Data Storage Network Function    -   SDP Service Discovery Protocol (Bluetooth related)    -   SDSF Structured Data Storage Function    -   SDU Service Data Unit    -   SEAF Security Anchor Function    -   SeNB secondary eNB    -   SEPP Security Edge Protection Proxy    -   SFI Slot format indication    -   SFTD Space-Frequency Time Diversity, SFN and frame timing        difference    -   SFN System Frame Number    -   SgNB Secondary gNB    -   SGSN Serving GPRS Support Node    -   S-GW Serving Gateway    -   SI System Information    -   SI-RNTI System Information RNTI    -   SIB System Information Block    -   SIM Subscriber Identity Module    -   SIP Session Initiated Protocol    -   SiP System in Package    -   SL Sidelink    -   SLA Service Level Agreement    -   SM Session Management    -   SMF Session Management Function    -   SMS Short Message Service    -   SMSF SMS Function    -   SMTC SSB-based Measurement Timing Configuration    -   SN Secondary Node, Sequence Number    -   SoC System on Chip    -   SON Self-Organizing Network    -   SpCell Special Cell    -   SP-CSI-RNTI Semi-Persistent CSI RNTI    -   SPS Semi-Persistent Scheduling    -   SQN Sequence number    -   SR Scheduling Request    -   SRB Signalling Radio Bearer    -   SRS Sounding Reference Signal    -   SS Synchronization Signal    -   SSB Synchronization Signal Block, SS/PBCH Block    -   SSBRI SS/PBCH Block Resource Indicator, Synchronization Signal        Block Resource Indicator    -   SSC Session and Service Continuity    -   SS-RSRP Synchronization Signal based Reference Signal Received        Power    -   SS-RSRQ Synchronization Signal based Reference Signal Received        Quality    -   SS-SINR Synchronization Signal based Signal to Noise and        Interference Ratio    -   SSS Secondary Synchronization Signal    -   SSSG Search Space Set Group    -   SSSIF Search Space Set Indicator    -   SST Slice/Service Types    -   SU-MIMO Single User MIMO    -   SUL Supplementary Uplink    -   TA Timing Advance, Tracking Area    -   TAC Tracking Area Code    -   TAG Timing Advance Group    -   TAU Tracking Area Update    -   TB Transport Block    -   TBS Transport Block Size    -   TBD To Be Defined    -   TCI Transmission Configuration Indicator    -   TCP Transmission Communication Protocol    -   TDD Time Division Duplex    -   TDM Time Division Multiplexing    -   TDMA Time Division Multiple Access    -   TE Terminal Equipment    -   TEID Tunnel End Point Identifier    -   TFT Traffic Flow Template    -   TMSI Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity    -   TNL Transport Network Layer    -   TPC Transmit Power Control    -   TPMI Transmitted Precoding Matrix Indicator    -   TR Technical Report    -   TRP, TRxP Transmission Reception Point    -   TRS Tracking Reference Signal    -   TRx Transceiver    -   TS Technical Specifications, Technical Standard    -   TTI Transmission Time Interval    -   Tx Transmission, Transmitting, Transmitter    -   U-RNTI UTRAN Radio Network Temporary Identity    -   UART Universal Asynchronous Receiver and Transmitter    -   UCI Uplink Control Information    -   UE User Equipment    -   UDM Unified Data Management    -   UDP User Datagram Protocol    -   UDSF Unstructured Data Storage Network Function    -   UICC Universal Integrated Circuit Card    -   UL Uplink    -   UM Unacknowledged Mode    -   UML Unified Modelling Language    -   UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunications System    -   UP User Plane    -   UPF User Plane Function    -   URI Uniform Resource Identifier    -   URL Uniform Resource Locator    -   URLLC Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency    -   USB Universal Serial Bus    -   USIM Universal Subscriber Identity Module    -   USS UE-specific search space    -   UTRA UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access    -   UTRAN Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network    -   UwPTS Uplink Pilot Time Slot    -   V2I Vehicle-to-Infrastruction    -   V2P Vehicle-to-Pedestrian    -   V2V Vehicle-to-Vehicle    -   V2X Vehicle-to-everything    -   VIM Virtualized Infrastructure Manager    -   VL Virtual Link,    -   VLAN Virtual LAN, Virtual Local Area Network    -   VM Virtual Machine    -   VNF Virtualized Network Function    -   VNFFG VNF Forwarding Graph    -   VNFFGD VNF Forwarding Graph Descriptor    -   VNFM VNF Manager    -   VoIP Voice-over-IP, Voice-over-Internet Protocol    -   VPLMN Visited Public Land Mobile Network    -   VPN Virtual Private Network    -   VRB Virtual Resource Block    -   WiMAX Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access    -   WLAN Wireless Local Area Network    -   WMAN Wireless Metropolitan Area Network    -   WPAN Wireless Personal Area Network    -   X2-C X2-Control plane    -   X2-U X2-User plane    -   XML eXtensible Markup Language    -   XRES EXpected user RESponse    -   XOR eXclusive OR    -   ZC Zadoff-Chu    -   ZP Zero Power

Terminology

For the purposes of the present document, the following terms anddefinitions are applicable to the examples and embodiments discussedherein.

The term “circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, or includeshardware components such as an electronic circuit, a logic circuit, aprocessor (shared, dedicated, or group) and/or memory (shared,dedicated, or group), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC),a field-programmable device (FPD) (e.g., a field-programmable gate array(FPGA), a programmable logic device (PLD), a complex PLD (CPLD), ahigh-capacity PLD (HCPLD), a structured ASIC, or a programmable SoC),digital signal processors (DSPs), etc., that are configured to providethe described functionality. In some embodiments, the circuitry mayexecute one or more software or firmware programs to provide at leastsome of the described functionality. The term “circuitry” may also referto a combination of one or more hardware elements (or a combination ofcircuits used in an electrical or electronic system) with the programcode used to carry out the functionality of that program code. In theseembodiments, the combination of hardware elements and program code maybe referred to as a particular type of circuitry.

The term “processor circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, orincludes circuitry capable of sequentially and automatically carryingout a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations, or recording,storing, and/or transferring digital data. The term “processorcircuitry” may refer to one or more application processors, one or morebaseband processors, a physical central processing unit (CPU), asingle-core processor, a dual-core processor, a triple-core processor, aquad-core processor, and/or any other device capable of executing orotherwise operating computer-executable instructions, such as programcode, software modules, and/or functional processes. The terms“application circuitry” and/or “baseband circuitry” may be consideredsynonymous to, and may be referred to as, “processor circuitry.”

The term “interface circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, orincludes circuitry that enables the exchange of information between twoor more components or devices. The term “interface circuitry” may referto one or more hardware interfaces, for example, buses, I/O interfaces,peripheral component interfaces, network interface cards, and/or thelike.

The term “user equipment” or “UE” as used herein refers to a device withradio communication capabilities and may describe a remote user ofnetwork resources in a communications network. The term “user equipment”or “UE” may be considered synonymous to, and may be referred to as,client, mobile, mobile device, mobile terminal, user terminal, mobileunit, mobile station, mobile user, subscriber, user, remote station,access agent, user agent, receiver, radio equipment, reconfigurableradio equipment, reconfigurable mobile device, etc. Furthermore, theterm “user equipment” or “UE” may include any type of wireless/wireddevice or any computing device including a wireless communicationsinterface.

The term “network element” as used herein refers to physical orvirtualized equipment and/or infrastructure used to provide wired orwireless communication network services. The term “network element” maybe considered synonymous to and/or referred to as a networked computer,networking hardware, network equipment, network node, router, switch,hub, bridge, radio network controller, RAN device, RAN node, gateway,server, virtualized VNF, NFVI, and/or the like.

The term “computer system” as used herein refers to any typeinterconnected electronic devices, computer devices, or componentsthereof. Additionally, the term “computer system” and/or “system” mayrefer to various components of a computer that are communicativelycoupled with one another. Furthermore, the term “computer system” and/or“system” may refer to multiple computer devices and/or multiplecomputing systems that are communicatively coupled with one another andconfigured to share computing and/or networking resources.

The term “appliance,” “computer appliance,” or the like, as used hereinrefers to a computer device or computer system with program code (e.g.,software or firmware) that is specifically designed to provide aspecific computing resource. A “virtual appliance” is a virtual machineimage to be implemented by a hypervisor-equipped device that virtualizesor emulates a computer appliance or otherwise is dedicated to provide aspecific computing resource.

The term “resource” as used herein refers to a physical or virtualdevice, a physical or virtual component within a computing environment,and/or a physical or virtual component within a particular device, suchas computer devices, mechanical devices, memory space, processor/CPUtime, processor/CPU usage, processor and accelerator loads, hardwaretime or usage, electrical power, input/output operations, ports ornetwork sockets, channel/link allocation, throughput, memory usage,storage, network, database and applications, workload units, and/or thelike. A “hardware resource” may refer to compute, storage, and/ornetwork resources provided by physical hardware element(s). A“virtualized resource” may refer to compute, storage, and/or networkresources provided by virtualization infrastructure to an application,device, system, etc.

The term “network resource” or “communication resource” may refer toresources that are accessible by computer devices/systems via acommunications network. The term “system resources” may refer to anykind of shared entities to provide services, and may include computingand/or network resources. System resources may be considered as a set ofcoherent functions, network data objects or services, accessible througha server where such system resources reside on a single host or multiplehosts and are clearly identifiable.

The term “channel” as used herein refers to any transmission medium,either tangible or intangible, which is used to communicate data or adata stream. The term “channel” may be synonymous with and/or equivalentto “communications channel,” “data communications channel,”“transmission channel,” “data transmission channel,” “access channel,”“data access channel,” “link,” “data link,” “carrier,” “radiofrequencycarrier,” and/or any other like term denoting a pathway or mediumthrough which data is communicated. Additionally, the term “link” asused herein refers to a connection between two devices through a RAT forthe purpose of transmitting and receiving information.

The terms “instantiate,” “instantiation,” and the like as used hereinrefers to the creation of an instance. An “instance” also refers to aconcrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, duringexecution of program code.

The terms “coupled,” “communicatively coupled,” along with derivativesthereof are used herein. The term “coupled” may mean two or moreelements are in direct physical or electrical contact with one another,may mean that two or more elements indirectly contact each other butstill cooperate or interact with each other, and/or may mean that one ormore other elements are coupled or connected between the elements thatare said to be coupled with each other. The term “directly coupled” maymean that two or more elements are in direct contact with one another.The term “communicatively coupled” may mean that two or more elementsmay be in contact with one another by a means of communication includingthrough a wire or other interconnect connection, through a wirelesscommunication channel or ink, and/or the like.

The term “information element” refers to a structural element containingone or more fields. The term “field” refers to individual contents of aninformation element, or a data element that contains content.

The term “SMTC” refers to an SSB-based measurement timing configurationconfigured by SSB-MeasurementTimingConfiguration.

The term “SSB” refers to an SS/PBCH block.

The term “a “Primary Cell” refers to the MCG cell, operating on theprimary frequency, in which the UE either performs the initialconnection establishment procedure or initiates the connectionre-establishment procedure.

The term “Primary SCG Cell” refers to the SCG cell in which the UEperforms random access when performing the Reconfiguration with Syncprocedure for DC operation.

The term “Secondary Cell” refers to a cell providing additional radioresources on top of a Special Cell for a UE configured with CA.

The term “Secondary Cell Group” refers to the subset of serving cellscomprising the PSCell and zero or more secondary cells for a UEconfigured with DC.

The term “Serving Cell” refers to the primary cell for a UE inRRC_CONNECTED not configured with CA/DC there is only one serving cellcomprising of the primary cell.

The term “serving cell” or “serving cells” refers to the set of cellscomprising the Special Cell(s) and all secondary cells for a UE inRRC_CONNECTED configured with CA/.

The term “Special Cell” refers to the PCell of the MCG or the PSCell ofthe SCG for DC operation; otherwise, the term “Special Cell” refers tothe Pcell.

1. A method comprising: generating data samples associated with asampling rate; generating a waveform by populating a first slot and asecond slot in a subframe of the waveform using the data samples,wherein slot durations of the first slot and the second slot in thesubframe of the waveform equal respective durations of a first slot anda second slot in a subframe of a reference waveform to thereby align thefirst slot and the second slot in the subframe of the waveform with therespective first slot and second slot in the subframe of the referencewaveform; and transmitting the waveform using front end circuitry,wherein the waveform is a single carrier waveform, and wherein thereference waveform is an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing(OFDM) waveform.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the single carrierwaveform comprises a single carrier-cyclic prefix-frequency domainequalizer (SC-CP-FDE) waveform or a single carrier-unique word-frequencydomain equalizer (SC-UW-FDE) waveform.
 3. The method of claim 1, whereinthe orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) waveform comprisesa cyclic prefix-orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (CP-OFDM)waveform or a Discrete Fourier Transform-spread-OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM)waveform.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein a symbol duration of thewaveform multiplied by a first integer is a reference unit time durationthat equals one of the slot duration of the reference waveform, the slotduration of the reference waveform multiplied by a second positiveinteger, 0.5 ms or 1 ms.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the datasamples are generated using a Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) with DFTsize defined as 2{circumflex over ( )}i·3{circumflex over( )}j·5{circumflex over ( )}k, wherein i, j, k are non-negativeintegers.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the sampling rate is afraction of a sampling rate of the reference waveform.
 7. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the slot durations of the first slot and the secondslot equal a subframe duration of the waveform divided by a thirdinteger that is based on the sampling rate.
 8. A user equipment (UE),comprising: radio front end circuitry; and processor circuitry coupledto the radio front end circuitry and configured to: generate datasamples associated with a sampling rate; generate a waveform bypopulating a first slot and a second slot in a subframe of the waveformusing the data samples, wherein slot durations of the first slot and thesecond slot in the subframe of the waveform equal respective durationsof a first slot and a second slot in a subframe of a reference waveformto thereby align the first slot and the second slot in the subframe ofthe waveform with the respective first slot and second slot in thesubframe of the reference waveform; and transmit the waveform using theradio front end circuitry, wherein the waveform is a single carrierwaveform, and wherein the reference waveform is an orthogonal frequencydivision multiplexing (OFDM) waveform.
 9. The UE of claim 8, wherein thesingle carrier waveform comprises a single carrier-cyclicprefix-frequency domain equalizer (SC-CP-FDE) waveform or a singlecarrier-unique word-frequency domain equalizer (SC-UW-FDE) waveform. 10.The UE of claim 8, wherein the orthogonal frequency divisionmultiplexing (OFDM) waveform comprises a cyclic prefix-orthogonalfrequency-division multiplexing (CP-OFDM) waveform or a Discrete FourierTransform-spread-OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) waveform.
 11. The UE of claim 8,wherein a symbol duration of the waveform multiplied by a first integeris a reference unit time duration that equals one of the slot durationof the reference waveform, the slot duration of the reference waveformmultiplied by a second positive integer, 0.5 ms or 1 ms.
 12. The UE ofclaim 8, wherein the data samples are generated using a Discrete FourierTransform (DFT) with DFT size defined as 2{circumflex over( )}i·3{circumflex over ( )}j·5{circumflex over ( )}k, wherein i, j, kare non-negative integers.
 13. The UE of claim 8, wherein the samplingrate is a fraction of a sampling rate of the reference waveform.
 14. TheUE of claim 8, wherein the slot durations of the first slot and thesecond slot equal a subframe duration of the waveform divided by a thirdinteger that is based on the sampling rate.
 15. A non-transitorycomputer-readable media comprising instructions to cause an electronicdevice, upon execution of the instructions by one or more processors ofthe electronic device, to perform a method, the method comprising:generating data samples associated with a sampling rate; generating awaveform by populating a first slot and a second slot in a subframe ofthe waveform using the data samples, wherein slot durations of the firstslot and the second slot in the subframe of the waveform equalrespective to durations of a first slot and a second slot in a subframeof a reference waveform to thereby align the first slot and the secondslot in the subframe of the waveform with the respective first slot andsecond slot in the subframe of the reference waveform; and transmittingthe waveform using front end circuitry, wherein the waveform is a singlecarrier waveform, and wherein the reference waveform is an orthogonalfrequency division multiplexing (OFDM) waveform.
 16. The non-transitorycomputer-readable media of claim 15, wherein the single carrier waveformcomprises a single carrier-cyclic prefix-frequency domain equalizer(SC-CP-FDE) waveform or a single carrier-unique word-frequency domainequalizer (SC-UW-FDE) waveform.
 17. The non-transitory computer-readablemedia of claim 15, wherein the orthogonal frequency divisionmultiplexing (OFDM) waveform comprises a cyclic prefix-orthogonalfrequency-division multiplexing (CP-OFDM) waveform or a Discrete FourierTransform-spread-OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) waveform.
 18. The non-transitorycomputer-readable media of claim 15, wherein a symbol duration of thewaveform multiplied by a first integer is a reference unit time durationthat equals one of the slot duration of the reference waveform, the slotduration of the reference waveform multiplied by a second positiveinteger, 0.5 ms or 1 ms.
 19. The non-transitory computer-readable mediaof claim 15, wherein data samples are generated using a Discrete FourierTransform (DFT) with DFT size defined as 2{circumflex over( )}i·3{circumflex over ( )}j·5{circumflex over ( )}k, wherein i, j, kare non-negative integers.
 20. The non-transitory computer-readablemedia of claim 15, wherein the sampling is a fraction of a sampling rateof the reference waveform.